....the program is not affordable given likely Marine Corps procurement budgets. The procurement and operations/maintenance costs of this vehicle are onerous.—James F. Amos, 35th Commandant of the Marine Corps
You would think that the above statement applied to the F-35....and it does. But in this case Amos was talking about the EFV.
2010-2011 were decisive years for the Marine Corps.
But lets play a game and imagine what the Marine Corps would look like today...if Gates did more than play lip service to procurement reform by whacking a few US Army and Marine Corps programs. What would the Marine Corps look like if the F-35 was canned too.
We would have the EFV...simplified.
If the F-35 was canned along with the EFV, I believe the Marine Corps would have accepted a proposal by General Dynamics to build a simplified version of the EFV. It would not be a planning vehicle but its mobility and protection on land would have been top notch.
We would be cutting far fewer Infantry Battalions.
The Marine Corps provides 1/3 (I believe don't quote me on that...the number is impressive) of the nations ground combat power. In particular it provides formidable infantry. Today we're cutting Infantry Battalions at an alarming rate, while expecting Companies to do their job. Thank you F-35.
We would be flying F/A-18E/F/G's.
We would have immediately flexed into the Super Hornet as an interim jet bringing the cost of that airplane down even more, giving us an electronic attack option (a supreme option and possible game changer) and provide seamless integration with Navy Carrier Air Wings.
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Options for a tilt wing gunship would have been fully explored.
I dislike the MV-22 for its cost. Planners should dislike it because its jumbling the escort package for it. It flies too fast to be escorted by the AH-1Z, yet its not quite fast enough to cruise comfortably with Harriers (this is guesswork on my part....I could be wrong but don't think so). Bell Helicopters BAT, work they did for the US Army's light helicopter program, would have gotten a second look and would have (if adopted) lessened the need for a STOVL jet fighter.
Summation.
2010-2011 was a year of decision for the Marine Corps and instead of doing the hard thing and re-evaluating where we were going with procurement we pushed ahead.
...Hey diddle straight up the middle, hey diddle straight up the middle....
