Marines’ Stealth Jet Struggling to Lift Off

90% of America’s combat aviation power is eventually supposed to come from F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.

But the $388 billion program has busted its budget so badly, it’s on the verge of collapse.

So a couple of weeks back, some two-bit defense pundit proposed overhauling the JSF effort by getting rid of its most expensive, most technically-complex model: the one for the Marines that takes off and lands vertically, helicopter-style. It’s a neat trick but its battlefield utility is debatable. “The Marines have talked themselves into believing they really need this capability,” one senior defense official told me. “But it’s one we’ve never counted on in any fight.”

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