The above charts are from ELP blog, but before you holler guess what? He was the only one that had unit costs of the F-35 readily available. If you have contrary figures I'll gladly hear you out. The point is simple. For the cost of one F-35 at 220 million dollars we could have 22 Marine Personnel Carriers if they came in at 10 million dollars each. If you delayed the Marine Corps buy of the F-35 for 2 or 3 years you could complete your purchase of the vehicles and have them in service.
I seriously think we could pressure Lockheed Martin or BAE to come in substantially below 10 mill for their vehicles but that's just me. Consider though that the Amphibious Combat Vehicle is thought to be wanted at the price of 13 million or below per copy and you get the idea.
To further my argument below you'll find a copy of the Marine Corps budget broken down by item. Again, while the Marine Corps is extremely frugal you'll find one thing glaring at you like a whore in church.
Aviation expenditures.
I rest my case. The Marine Corps is becoming unbalanced and biased at an alarming rate in favor of its aviation assets at the expense of providing its infantrymen (really all of the Ground Combat and Logistics Elements...unless its aviation related) with protected transport. The only item that I could find that received what I consider out of balance funding was the Expeditionary Fire Support System...a system designed to fly in the back of the V-22.
The question must be asked. Is one airplane worth 51 Billion Dollars of the Marine Corps budget? How many Marine Personnel Carriers could that buy? How many Marine Infantry Battalions could that save? How many Marines would that allow to remain in service preserving combat experience in uniform? Even if you think I'm off base that's something to consider!
