USMC will meet its goal of an all-STOVL strike-jet fleet

Only now, USMC tac-air discovers it is seriously ill.

The USMC started retiring tac-air squadrons years ago before any proof of a working F-35 (Moonlighters 2007). The justification? The F-35 was coming. Trust us.

The other part of that 2007 retirement was that the DOD needed funds to pay for Operation: USELESS DIRT 1 and 2.

Today, the Just So Failed has put USMC tac-air in a bad way. Less jets. More deployments. Very tired jets.

And no real plan to take USMC tac-air to the future except that the Harrier will last out to 2030s.

It is doubtful that the classic F-18 will last that long.

Why?

Like the F-16, it was never designed to be a depot jet (example: F-15). The F-16 and F-18 legacy is that of the Cold War light-weight fighter design. Build affordable aircraft. When they reach their hour limit, throw them in the trash. Yet like the F-16 and the USAF, the USN tried to make the F-18 a depot-jet with barrel-refurbishment and other after-the-fact maintenance plans. All because of a lack of interest of buying affordable tac-air solutions. For instance, toward the end of the F-18C/D production, it had good learning curve, affordability and capability. Short-legged but a refresh of continuing production until real, capable solutions were on-deck, would have helped.*

Not all that long ago in 2009, the F-35 fan base had great hopes; USMC IOC by 2012; USN IOC by 2015.

"The price tag for the Marine version is expected to cost in the upper $80 million range. And the Navy version, which will be capable of operating from aircraft carriers, is expected to cost more than $90 million."

And.

"We see this aircraft as having game changing technology that makes our vision of an all-STOVL (short take-off and vertical landing) force possible," Marine Corps Maj. Eric Dent said. "The F-35B is a fifth generation fighter that will provide a quantum leap in capability, basing flexibility, and mission execution across the full spectrum of conflict."

What they saw, was nonsense.

As an aside, the UK and Italy have some serious trouble. They are F-35B customers. The U.K. should have gone with its instincts back in 2009, when F-35B trouble appeared.

In 2007, the U.K., with fantasy based analysis authorized building of two very expensive ships thinking that the F-35B was a sure thing. Today, they are well on the way toward getting two, very large helicopter carriers with wasted deck-space because of a useless ski-jump.

USMC will get its dream of having an all-STOVL tac-air force.

Composed of Harriers.


*=Post Cold War, USAF acquisition of late-block F-18Cs would have been "Joint" and good enough for most home air defense missions (today the requirement is about 20 locations around the U.S.).


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-Time's Battleland - 5 Part series on F-35 procurement - 2013 
-Summary of Air Power Australia F-35 points
-Aviation Week (ARES blog) F-35 posts (2007 to present)
-U.S. Government Accounting Office (GAO) F-35 reports
-F-35 JSF: Cold War Anachronism Without a Mission
-History of F-35 Production Cuts
-Looking at the three Japan contenders (maneuverability)
-How the Canadian DND misleads the public about the F-35
-Value of STOVL F-35B over-hyped
-Cuckoo in the nest--U.S. DOD DOT&E F-35 report is out
-6 Feb 2012 Letter from SASC to DOD boss Panetta questioning the decision to lift probation on the F-35B STOVL.
-USAFs F-35 procurement plan is not believable
-December 2011 Australia/Canada Brief
-F-35 Key Performance Perimeters (KPP) and Feb 2012 CRS report
-F-35 DOD Select Acquisition Report (SAR) FY2012
-Release of F-35 2012 test report card shows continued waste on a dud program
-Australian Defence answers serious F-35 project concerns with "so what?"
-Land of the Lost (production cut history update March 2013)
-Outgoing LM F-35 program boss admits to flawed weight assumptions (March 2013)
-A look at the F-35 program's astro-turfing
-F-35 and F-16 cost per flying hour
-Is this aircraft worth over $51B of USMC tac-air funding?
-Combat radius and altitude, A model
-F-35A, noise abatement and airfields and the USAF
-Deceptive marketing practice: F-35 blocks
-The concurrency fraud
-The dung beetle's "it's known" lie
-F-35's air-to-air ability limited
-F-35 Blocks--2006 and today



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