The decline and fall of Marine Aviation...Told ya so....

via Foreign Policy

We can argue about what caused it. (I think that sticking with the V-22 Osprey after the Army quit the program bankrupted Marine aviation acquisition and is still killing the Corps’ O&M budget.)
But it appears there is no question that Marine aviation is in a bad way. An article in the May issue of Marine Corps Gazette says that in January, of 147 Ch-53Es in the USMC inventory, there was an average of 31 ready to fly. And, depending on who you ask, the V-22 costs somewhere between $10,000 and $70,000 an hour to fly. (I defer to @MarkThompson_DC on such rotary questions.)

How long have I been bitching about the high cost of Marine Aviation?  How long have I been criticizing the "game plan" being forwarded by HQMC.

Told ya so.

This train wreck that is Marine Air deserves more than a few heads to roll.  All the camp followers that knew better but said nothing need to be  dispatched along with the architects.

The terrible part?  Now we must again delay modernization of the ground component to fix the air side...after watching a few idiots worshiping air power tip the whole cart over in the first place.