"puttster" wrote in message
om...
Chad Irby wrote in message
. com...
In article ,
(puttster) wrote:

Then let me ask why the Marines need the V/Stol capability. I cannot
get a good picture of a mission where the marines would need 400+ of
them with all the support for them but still not have a decent runway!

Why are you limiting the situation to needing 400+ at once?

The situation is more like "we need a dozen for this small brushfire war
in a place where there are no good airstrips," or we need to put a small
landing force in at this area, and the bad guys have a few planes, so we
need a little fighter cover from the LHDs."

Well that was my question, if the biggest mission that con be
realiatically conjures is a dozen, why order 400+?

Because you need only a dozen PER SHIP or base but you need cover
for a dozen locations or so. Then figure in the aircraft required for
training, the 20% or so that will be under maintenance at any time
and an attrition reserve for the 30 years it will be in service and
the 400 appears rather reasonable.

Having one squadron on a ship in the Pacific isnt a
lot of use if a problem pops up in Africa.

Keith