First F-35 Jets to Lack Ground-Combat Punch of 1970s-Era A-10s

via Bloomberg.

The first F-35 jets ready for combat won’t be able to protect forces in ground combat as well as the nearly 40-year-old A-10s the Pentagon wants to retire, according to the Defense Department’s chief weapons tester.
Compared with the lumbering A-10, known as the Warthog, the initial F-35s made by Lockheed Martin Corp. will be handicapped by limits on how many weapons they can carry, flying at night and spotting targets as well as how long they can remain over them, Michael Gilmore, director of operational testing, said in a statement prepared for a House Armed Services subcommittee hearing and obtained in advance by Bloomberg.

For those of us that are following the program this isn't news.  For the rest of the media and the public?  They're probably stunned.