USMC buys EVEN MORE attack helicopters but delays armor....

Thanks to Lee for the link!

via Bell Helicopter Press Release.

Fort Worth, Texas (May 11, 2016) – Bell Helicopter, a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, was awarded a $461.1 million contract in March 2016 from the U.S. Pentagon to supply the U.S. Marine Corps with more than two dozen new utility and attack helicopters. The contract includes 12 UH-1Y Venom utility helicopters and 16 AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters and the associated auxiliary fuel kits.

Interesting.  You could have bought the entire allotment of ACVs for this amount of money and be done with the program for 20 years (or more considering how the USMC handles its armor programs).  Meanwhile we're pushing new aviation program after new program and ignoring the ground combat element.

Is it in the procurement plan to delay all ground equipment purchases till aviation is finished?  If so then how do you balance out the reality that constant upgrades to aviation will mean that it continues to consume an extraordinarily large part of the budget?

If the idea is that you finish aviation then pivot to the ground side then that's a wrong.  Aviation will continue to gobble up every cent in sight.

This plan is not going to work.