Being ignored is not so bad sometimes. The US Marine Corps probably won't complain about being mostly left out of Fiscal 2010 budget roll-out today. True, the USMC lost the VH-71 presidential helicopter. But other services lost the weapon systems most vital to their identity. The US Army lost every ground vehicle in Future Combat Systems program. The US Navy lost the DDG-1000. The US Air Force lost the F-22, the C-17, Transformational Satellite Communications and the combat search and rescue helicopter (ouch).
And yet Gates never mentioned the USMC's most treasured modernization
programs. Even weapon systems with a history of cost overruns and
schedules delays, such as the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) and
the MV-22 tiltrotor, escaped mention in Gates' speech. The
developmental CH-53K and LHA 6 amphibious assault ship also survived.
Ditto for the H-1 upgrades program. On top of that, Gates accelerated the F-35 program.
We still don't know for sure if those programs are safe. Gates left out enormous chunks of the DOD weapons budget. The C-5M, P-8A, Joint Tactical Radio System and EA-18G also immediately come to mind.
But for now it appears that no news is good news, and no service can be happier about that than the USMC.
We still don't know for sure if those programs are safe. Gates left out enormous chunks of the DOD weapons budget. The C-5M, P-8A, Joint Tactical Radio System and EA-18G also immediately come to mind.
But for now it appears that no news is good news, and no service can be happier about that than the USMC.
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