“This is all part of the A-10 v. F-35 debate.”
The Marine Corps went thru the same debate when the brass wanted the V-22 Osprey and decided to use it as a replacement for the CH-46E “Phrog.”
Boeing had plans for a faster, higher lift-capacity CH-46E “Super-Phrog” but these were rejected in favor of the Osprey. (remember, the CH-47 Chinook is a similar but larger design, and new avionics and other upgrades were available or under development for that aircraft).
The Osprey is faster, but its interior space is not much different; in addition, it can outrun the Hueys and Cobras that are supposed to protect it, and its footprint is about twice the size of the Phrog it replaced (2 Ospreys fit on the flight deck of an LPD that accomodated 4 Phrogs.
Sadly, the last Phrog flight has been completed, and all surviving examples are in museums or the boneyard.
The USMC has a vertical takeoff fetish that they can’t seem to shake.
Or flying in Afghanistan for the State Department.