American Mercenary wades into the F-35 debacle...I make a minor correction to his research.

via AM..

Now Solomon has a very valid point that Congress holds responsibility for budgeting. But that doesn't excuse the Department of Defense as a whole from not taking the big stick to defense contractors who bust their budgets with no real consequences

That's just a tidbit...read it all here...now understand that I'm using American Mercenary as a foil to push my bigger agenda...I want to stick a fork in the thinking that the USMC is at fault for the F-35 catastrophe.

Required reading for the F-35 is found via The Internet Wayback Machine. 

Exhibit Number 1.  What are the roots of the F-35B?

Advanced Short Take-Off/Vertical Landing (ASTOVL) 1983-1994The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) began a program in 1983 to begin looking at the technologies available to design and manufacture a follow-on supersonic replace for the AV-8 Harrier. The program, known as ASTOVL, would eventually lead become a joint U.S.-U.K. collaboration. In 1987 the results of the ASTOVL program made clear that the technologies available were not yet advanced enough to generate a replacement that the U.S. and U.K. would have been satisfied with. At this time, DARPA secretly approached the Lockheed Skunk Works in the hopes that they would be able to develop an aircraft like they had hoped would have appeared from the first phase of ASTOVL. Lockheed told DARPA that they had some ideas that could be matured and that, if they were successful would meet the goals that DARPA was trying to achieve. At the same time, DARPA continued with ASTOVL Phase II as a cover for the covert work being done at the Skunk Works.
TOP OF PAGEi. STOVL Strike Fighter (SSF) 1987-1994In the late 1980s the Lockheed Skunk Works was involved in a classified, non-acknowledged program with NASA Ames that looked into the feasibility of designing a stealthy supersonic STOVL fighter. This was a cooperative program that utilized the assets of NASA (wind tunnels, personnel, super-computers, etc.) along with the expertise of the Lockheed Skunk Works in designing stealthy air vehicles. The results from this highly classified program proved that a SSF could be successfully flown. Management at the Lockheed Skunk Works was convinced that the SSF design could be sold to both the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy. (The U.S. Navy (NAVAIR) is the procuring office for Marine Corps aircraft.) The Skunk Works proposed a teaming between the USAF and the USN. The services agreed, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between the services and the SSF program began to come out of the black.

Exhibit Number 2.  If the USMC had a separate program how did they become merged with Navy and Air Force efforts? 

What is known today as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program was originally known as the Joint Advanced Strike Technology (JAST) Program. The goal of the JAST program was not to have developed a new aircraft, but instead it was to mature the technologies that a new series of tactical aircraft could use.
JAST was chartered to mature technologies, develop requirements, and demonstrate concepts for affordable next-generation joint strike warfare. As JAST plans took shape, it became apparent that JAST would be funding one or more concept demonstrator aircraft starting in 1996–about the time the ASTOVL program planned to enter its Phase III (full-scale flight demonstrators). The ASTOVL project, as an advanced concept for a future joint-service strike/fighter, appeared consistent with the JAST charter. It was therefore agreed by the management of both programs, that JAST would become the U.S. service “sponsor” for the flight demonstration phase of ASTOVL, if Phase II were successful and if the concept appeared to be able to satisfy the requirements of at least two of the three U.S. services participating in JAST. However, FY95 budget legislation passed in October 1994 by the U.S. Congress directed that ASTOVL be merged into JAST immediately.

I rest my case.  This meme that Sweetman started MUST stop (and yeah I put this on Sweetman's desk because he's the first person to make this accusation.  I remember it well, because we went round and round about this when I was a rabid supporter of the F-35 program).

You can blame the Marine Corps for a number of things.  We're big boys.  We can take it.  But if you're going to try and saddle MY Marine Corps with the F-35 debacle then think again.

Blame your Congress Critter for this mess!  NOT the United States Marine Corps! 

Sidenote.  Make sure you head over to Internet Way Back Machine to read the now dead official JSF Program website.  I've made screen copies because I have a feeling that it will disappear even from that site soon.