Britain's move on F-35 will not affect US Marines: general

AFP via Yahoo News ^ | 11/16/2010 | AFP via Yahoo News

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

Britain's decision to buy a different version of the F-35 fighter jet will not dramatically raise the cost of the aircraft for the US Marine Corps, a military official said Tuesday.

"The initial briefs that I've seen is that this does not significantly increase the cost of the aircraft, but that's for the budget and the programmatic folks to deal with," Lieutenant General George Flynn told reporters.

As part of a strategic review in October, Britain has canceled plans to purchase the F-35B, a version of the fighter that can vertically land or take off, and opted to buy a conventional model that will be used on aircraft carriers, the F-35C.

According to media reports, the decision will mean Britain will buy 50 of the planes, instead of 138 of the short-take off and vertical landing (STOVL) variant.

The change in Britain's plans should not have any impact on the US Marine Corps, which is due to have a large fleet of the STOVL-type Joint Strike Fighters, said Flynn, who heads the Marine Corps Combat Development Command.

[OldDeckHand]

This must mean that they aren't even going to build the second QE class of new carriers that are scheduled for the end of this decade. They've already announced the maiden ship will have the conventional assisted launch/arrested recovery system.

The British Navy is, for all practical purposes, going to be completely neutered.

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

Only one carrier will be commissioned, while the other will be placed in “extended readiness” to provide a continuous single carrier strike capability when the other is in refit.

[gary_b_UK]

They are having to go ahead with building the second carrier because to cancel one or both carriers would cost more than building them, due to penalty clauses built into the contracts under the previous government.

[DesScorp]

Whistling past the graveyard. The Joint Strike Failure’s death spiral has begun.

[OldDeckHand]

"Only one carrier will be commissioned, while the other will be placed in “extended readiness” to provide a continuous single carrier strike capability when the other is in refit."

That explains why they've halved their aircraft order. With only one carrier in operation, they just don't need it. Although, you might think 65 or 70 would have been closer to the mark, rather than 50.

[OldDeckHand]

"Whistling past the graveyard. The Joint Strike Failure’s death spiral has begun."

I'm not saying you're wrong, but what else is DoD going to do? The USMC F-18s are literally going to start falling out of the sky, soon. They're approaching, or have already surpassed to projected usefulness, to say nothing of the wear and tear of the combat missions they've been asked to fly the last 20 years.

While the Navy is in a little better position because of the Super Hornet, they're not in that much better of a position.

[kingpins10]

As an American, it’s sad to see England’s navy being pretty much a joke of what it used to be. It’s as if people actually believe there will be no need of weaponry in the future.

There have always been wars and there always will be, unfortunately.

[Vroomfondel]

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[magslinger]

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[DesScorp]

"I'm not saying you're wrong, but what else is DoD going to do? "

Eliminate USMC fixed wing air, and turn fixed wing air support over to the Navy. And I think this is exactly what will happen as the USMC is forced to radically shrink in size. The Marines aren't going away, and they're not going to be so small that they're reduced to "the Navy's police force", as Harry Truman so famously fumed... but I do think that they're going to just be a small, elite amphibious infantry force... period. I think in our lifetimes you'll see a Marine Corps that's been pared down to a 30,000 to 70,000 force, where the Navy takes over the duties of things like feeding and equipment maintenance to free up more Marines to take infantry positions. Not much room for your own fixed wing air force in that kind of future. I think the Marines will be pretty much limited to rotary wing air in the future, much like the Army. And face it... it's not like a Marine expeditionary force is going to be sent into action on some hostile beach without a carrier nearby anyway. So fixed wing air for the Marines is overkill in any case.