Actually the idea, similar to bringing back a battleship and using more
LHA's then LHA(R)'s is a cost saving approach that tied to killing the
LCS (done for all the good reasons) moving to the DD(X) even more good
reasons and carefully looking again at the CVN-21 would save some 15 to
20 billion dollars almost instantly

The original argument for the JFK was a political one to save Mayport
and the Florida jobs but the Navy was very serious about killing it
knowing full well that it would produce results they did not want - the
new nuclear Navy was the plan and the CVA would not fit and they were
right about this. So the nuclear carrier force developed into a high
speed open ocean race club where Hornet maintainability could be
exploited to the full and two carriers with additional crew could do the
work of the traditional three - not bad and should be continued - but
what about the littorals and COIN

However the argument against the JFK was that it had to be modernized to
keep up with the nuclear CVN's and of course that would reach a brick
wall in sustainability and flat out speed - the trumped deck was said to
cost $600 million and four years ago that was an enormous cost that made
the Navy happy they could put the conventional aberration to bed. Well
as it would, CVN21 costs went from 3 to 5 to 7 and now heading for $10
billion and suddenly the $600 million for the JFK looks real cheap. The
enter the LHA(R) and the Marines looking at it as their trump card out
of Naval aviation with an all STOVL force their own ships and a new
small carrier with a tactical fighter complement - ooops - did I say
"small carrier" - holy **** says the Navy this is not what we want so
they went pushing to get the Marines into the F/A-18E/F business so a
common Marine and Navy aviation would service all 10 big carriers -
Marine said no, dug in their heals and it all went to rest on the JSF
program. Had the F-35B been on schedule and working (you can bet the
Navy test and evaluation people really are doing a good job with this
one) and the LHA(R) not turned into greed-city things might have gone
nice for the Marines and the Navy would enter the new world with a death
fight over large nuclear or small conventional carriers - which in short
is a loose lose situation because sooner if not real soon the submarines
will replace carriers as the most dominate capital ship as the carriers
did the battleships in 1941.

So you ask - how can the Marines save themselves from themselves -
because you see the group of Marine generals who fathers the JSF and the
LHA(R) idea are determined to end Marine tactical aviation then
acquiesce to the Navy's insistence of merging the aviation branches and
right now Marine F-18 squadrons fly at reduced G and about one a year
will retire with no replacement and the Harriers are a toss up for
anyone. On the training side more and more Marines lose currency or even
familiarization with the carrier.

So we could modernize the JFK and make it a conventional assault
aviation ship, take on new F/A-18E/F and G's, and modernize Marine
aviations with the generals digging in their heals - its possible and
may be done in the next administration.
The savings are enormous and we need the cash now and we need to look to
the advanced threats down the road a bit and we need to deal with COIN
which we have put off for 5 years with this intramural sparring - if the
JFK is not sunk like the Oriskany, then there is always a chance and the
Kitty hawk could follow, one per fleet. This also doubles MV-22
production and you can see the vulnerability still exists low to the
ground but the Iraq and Afghan wars have all but ended the helicopter as
a combat attack platform - we need a new platform a cross between the
A-10 and the Apache - a Blitz Fighter as some call it - and guess what -
the simple fact that nothing could directly escort the MV-22 right now
is paramount to the fact that the planning was selectively biased
against doing what is needed for COIN.

In short - the whole shipbuilding world is a mess but it may be more
from the fact that we do not know where our Naval forces are going while
they seem to be on Pluto looking for a mission - the war is right in
front of them ready to make toast of the thin-skinned and under
protected ships


"Mark Andrew Spence" wrote in message
...

"Flashnews" wrote in message
et...
You have to look at this in a slightly different way

. . .

- A refurbished JFK could be cut down in boilers and screws,
gutted of at least two cats, a full hospital added (remember the new
hospital ship was killed) to where a less than 2000 people crew would
run the vessel and much of the engineering and supply could be
contractor. Marines, SOF, FBI, CIA, DEA, Allied SOF, etc. could all
be provided C4ISR planning areas with build-up/tear-down living areas
in bays and rooms created by gutting. The O-3 level would become for
instance a farm of briefing and planning rooms being fed by the IOIC
turned COAC


This is the first time I have heard this proposal re the JFK.

Is it your own idea, or are other groups advocating it as well?

M.S.