3rd Battalion, 6th Marines Fast Rope Exercise (CH-53E)...Photo by Staff Sgt. Artur Shvartsberg

NOTE:  Mark my words.  The CH-53K will be bought in larger numbers than currently programed.  The idea is to pigeon hole it into a logistics/heavy lift role but the versatility that the design brings will see the buy expanded.  Experience with the MV-22 should truncate the buy of that airplane but the Deputy Commandant is a slave to his "transformation" ideology...they promise to fix it but instead develop new missions for it while it continues to fail at the basics of troop insertion.