F-35C. This is how it ends...

Thanks for the article Andrew.

via Reuters.

Defense officials say the Navy is looking at an array of options, including buying fewer coastal warships built by Lockheed Martin Corp and Australia's Austal, and delaying orders for the Navy's F-35 C-model, also built by Lockheed to land on aircraft carriers.
Lockheed, Austal and other Navy suppliers such as General Dynamics and Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc are awaiting news about how the Navy would cut spending in its fiscal 2105 budget plan now being prepared.
The services are working to finalize their plans in coming days so they can send them to top Pentagon leaders for review.
Mabus said the Navy was doing all it could to protect training and readiness, but warned that if the cuts stayed in place, sailors and Marines might have to deploy without adequate training within 12 to 18 months.
Training and maintenance had already been scaled back, while protecting funding needed for deployments, but the forecast cuts would eventually begin to affect those areas, he said.
He said naval forces remained in the Middle East at the ready to deal with Syria, but ongoing budget cuts could undermine the Navy's ability to provide those military options to the president in the future.
"Unless we act to address the damage of continuing resolutions and sequestration, there are options which may be limited or just not available in the future," Mabus said.
Continued budget cuts could force the Navy to eliminate more than three dozen planned maintenance periods for its warships, and ground more than 200 aircraft.
Mabus also warned that the Navy's efforts to rebuild its fleet and drive down acquisition costs would be jeopardized if budget cuts forced it to break multiyear acquisition contracts.

Follow the link to read the whole thing but make no mistake about it...

If the Navy has to choose between carriers with Super Hornets or fewer carriers with F-35Cs, the more carrier argument will win everytime. 

Its nothing sinister.  Its just the way things are.

Combatant Commanders will insist on having carriers available.  Combatant Commanders don't see a slowdown in the need for forward deployed forces in this chaotic world.  What this also means is that the death spiral (as I've predicted) is about to hit full force this fall.  Left unsaid is what will happen to the other variants.  Amos will die in a ditch over the F-35B but he's in a much weakened position and opponents of this program will drop a few well placed e-mails to Congressional staffers and he won't testify.  Additionally many will be driven mad by the idea that he will once again offer up the Amphibious Combat Vehicle for delay.

This is almost a done deal.  They'll fight it but the F-35 program is being recognized for what it is.  An unaffordable boondoggle.