Read the whole thing here, but this is the paragraph that stood out to me...
The F-35B, if it ever arrives, would be a real help, serving as part of that indispensable inter-operable glue that holds America’s complex Pacific coalition together. The airframe would help tie strategically important countries to the US for years and open avenues for future regional collaboration–in say, a more formal arrangement, or a Pacific NATO. I mean, if you believe that melding together some sort of collaborative security coalition in Asia is important given the slowly-descending Bamboo Curtain, then standardizing aircraft is a big part of that picture.As I said, read the rest. I disagree with Hooper on just about every point. He is in my opinion another big city liberal that happens to focus on military affairs. In particular his excusing San Francisco for its vehement anti-military leanings while still pushing for military participation in civic events there is especially annoying.
So, if the F-35B does go away, America’s major Pacific allies will be left with, well, a brace of aircraft-less aircraft carriers. And that, on the part of those who spent their treasure to buy F-35B-friendly platforms, is going to sting a bit. Nobody likes to be left holding a few multi-billion dollar platforms that fail to provide the expected operational benefits.
And as usual, he reverts to the same tired F-35 bashing at the end of this article.
But he is waking up to the idea that the F-35 is important, not only to the Marine Corps, but to Naval Forces world wide.
Maybe its too early to abandon hope.
Hope that others will see the light like Mr. Hooper is beginning to.
