I've struggled mightily to explain why the F-35 is such a bad buy for the USMC in particular and the US military in general.
I've never questioned the STOVL operating concept. Never doubted the tech that is stuffed inside the F-35. I have questioned its level of agility and speed, but mostly I've questioned its COST!
Paralus said it better than I ever have in a comment that I'm turning into a post. His comment follows....
Sol hasn't been a basher of the F35, but he has been a basher of the cost of it. And it is a factor that nobody who has posted in this thread who still supports the F35 has addressed...ever. They are still partying like it's 1999.And make no mistake. The current JCS is building the force that will go to war in the future.
There has been a sea change in how this country views national defense, both in terms of whether we should become entangled in foreign adventures AND whether we should pay for it. The defense budget has been nearly sacrosanct since the early 1950's. But that changed with the Sequester. It opened up, for both political parties, opportunities to question whether we should or are even able to be the world's only superpower. Just five years ago, this was unthinkable, yet now it is routine. And for the most part, the answer people keep coming up with is, "no".
The service chiefs haven't realized it, the defense contractors haven't realized it, a huge portion of the blogosphere hasn't realized it yet, but smaller defense budgets via the Sequester AND an unwillingness by the American public to involve ourselves in foreign entanglements spell out the future: the good times are over.
Yes, our defense budget is huge, but a lot of that is personnel costs, tricare, veterans benefits, pay increases during OEF/OIF, etc. There are no longer any blank checks being floated to the services any more.
And what are the service chiefs offering as ways to save money? cutting personnel and BRAC.
The Navy is talking about reducing the number of carriers down to below 9. The Army is talking about reducing the total personnel below 400,000. The Air Forces wants to retire more teen-series fighters and A-10s. Amos wants to turn the USMC into a slightly beefier version of the Royal Marines. They don't get it. Once the services dump all those people, the service will NEVER, EVER get them back.
what the fuck good is the US Navy with 200 ships and 7 carriers?
what the fuck good is a US Army with 380,000 men?
what the fuck good is a USAF with 1500 fighters?
what the fuck good is a USMC that can only conduct commando raids and evacuate US citizens?
Because the question once we go down to those force sizes, we have to honestly ask whether the US can actually perform the missions we assign it. Can we reinforce South Korea? Can we defend Taiwan? Can we deploy to take out Iran?
Once we open up the Pandora's box of 'why do we need forces of this size', we release the evil spirits of "why do we even need forces?"
"Why do we need to protect Taiwan or the Philippines?"
"Why do we need to protect Israel?"
"why should we keep the Straights of Hormuz open?" and eventually
"Why do we need anything besides a military just big enough to protect the USA?"
and then you will see an explosion of international arms races because because people will realize the US cannot impose its will any longer so they no longer have to worry about whether they can invade their neighbor. The only countries that will be safe are the ones with nukes which means you will see widespread nuke races.
So, ask yourselves, do you want the F35 so much that you are willing to see a US Military so anemic that it can't project force abroad? what good will the F35 be then? Why would it even be worth projecting force abroad if we don't have the forces big enough to do perform the mission?
so, I ask the delusional schmucks here who don't get it yet, is the F35 that good that it is worth trashing US force sizes?
Or maybe, just maybe, we need to start looking at an 80% solution instead of the F35 so we can afford to keep forces large enough to actually perform the missions we expect of it?
