When Given a Choice, the Pentagon Pulls the "Wicked Stupid" Lever

A little bit over a year ago, I wrote about how the Marine Corps was lobbying for the C-2 Greyhound with the MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor in an attempt to lower the unit cost of theier purchase.

The V-22 is more expensive to buy and to operate, it is slower than the C-2, it must fly at lower altitudes because it lacks pressurization, and its internal volume (7.6 m³) is far less than that of the Greyhound (24 m³).

I called it "Wicked Stupid.

Well, it appears that the Marines have managed to bamboozle the Navy into replacing hte C-2 with the V-22:

The Navy will buy V-22 Osprey tiltrotors to replace its aging C-2A Greyhound turboprop aircraft in flying carrier on board delivery (COD) missions. Breaking Defense obtained a Jan. 5 memo, signed by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert, and Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford. It stipulates that the Navy will buy four V-22s each year from fiscal 2018 to 2020.

The MOU marks a major triumph for the Naval Air Systems Command V-22 program office, the Marine Corps and other Osprey advocates, who have argued for years that the Navy should replace its aging conventional take off C-2As with vertical take off and landing V-22s.

“The Navy is responsible for modifying these V-22s into an HV-22 configuration for the COD mission,” the MOU states. “The parties agree that subsequent documents will provide details on the concept of operations and milestones. A memorandum of agreement will detail reimbursable Marine Corps support for the Navy’s HV-22 transition, which includes training and potential deployment of Marine MV-22 aircraft and personnel to support COD requirements.”

The Navy-Marine Corps agreement must be ratified in the next defense budget and by Congress. It also depends in part on a prospective third V-22 multiyear procurement contract that would begin in fiscal year 2018. C-2A maker Northrop Grumman has proposed building a modernized version incorporating features of the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye tactical early warning aircraft.

I guess that a bunch of admirals concluded that there was better opportunity for them to score lucrative post-security jobs with defense contractors with the ruinously expensive Osprey than there would be with the cheaper Greyhound.

Seriously, our military-industry complex is circling the drain.

It's really beginning to evoke the Arthur C. Clark story Superiority, which describes how military superiority is sacrificed at the alter of technological whiz-bang:

But I cannot be held responsible for my future actions if I am compelled any longer to share my cell with Professor Norden, late Chief of the Research Staff of my armed forces.