{"id":186710,"date":"2013-11-09T15:07:00","date_gmt":"2013-11-09T20:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2013\/11\/09\/the-triumph-of-wicked-stupid-ideas\/"},"modified":"2013-11-09T15:07:00","modified_gmt":"2013-11-09T20:07:00","slug":"the-triumph-of-wicked-stupid-ideas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2013\/11\/09\/the-triumph-of-wicked-stupid-ideas\/","title":{"rendered":"The Triumph of Wicked Stupid Ideas"},"content":{"rendered":"

It appears that the US Marines are to replace the C-2 carrier onboard delivery (COD) aircraft with the V-22<\/a>, because increased orders should lower the unit price of the V-22 and allow the Marines more of the expensive, crash prone, and maintenance intensive dog.<\/p>\n

The Marines have been very good<\/b> at lobbying for really bad <\/b>ideas lately, the EFV,*<\/sup> adding STOVL to the JSF, and now, this:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe C-2 makes us so much more flexible that we could support three separated groups, if necessary,\u201d boasted Rear Adm. Marshall White, commanding air forces in the Western Pacific.<\/span>

<\/span>Faster-flying, longer-ranged and more capacious than the predecessor C-1 cargo plane, the ungainly C-2s and their crews were the unheralded heroes of the naval crises of 1968 and countless incidents since. Produced in a second batch in the 1980s and since upgraded, today a force of 35 C-2s based in key locations allows America\u2019s 10 carriers to range the globe, waging aerial war and responding to diplomatic crises without planners having to worry about stranding the vessels beyond range of aerial resupply.<\/span>

<\/span>Rarely have so few airplanes of a single\u2014and relatively unsophisticated\u2014type been so vitally important to the conduct of a superpower\u2019s global affairs. \u201cThe C-2A allows carriers and the fleet to maintain a ready position by supporting the vital supply line,\u201d says Brian Scolpino, who oversees the C-2 force for the Navy.<\/span>

<\/span>But the Navy could end up retiring the C-2s and replacing them with a far inferior plane\u2014one that\u2019s not really a plane at all, but a controversial hybrid craft. The Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey can take off vertically and cruise like an airplane thanks to its rotating wingtip engines, but lacks the C-2’s far-flying efficiency and its ease of use rooted in nearly 50 years of institutional experience.<\/span>

<\/span>\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/span>

<\/span>The Pentagon is no stranger to pricey, ill-advised weapons development scheme, but even in this wasteful institution the plan to scrap the C-2 stands out as especially self-defeating. America\u2019s world-spanning carrier fleet is one of its key advantages over its enemies. Constraining the flattops\u2019 resupply could force them to stay closer to their home ports, reducing Washington\u2019s options in the event of war and diminishing U.S. influence during peacetime.<\/span>

<\/span>\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/span>

<\/span>The Navy is well aware of the Cod\u2019s enduring qualities. \u201cThe C-2A has not experienced any limitations as the Cod aircraft,\u201d Scolpino writes. But concerted lobbying by the Marines and Boeing have practically forced the sailing branch to at least consider buying the V-22. If politics triumph and the tiltrotor takes the C-2’s place, the fleet could find itself moving backwards in time, to a state of constrained fighting ability not unlike that that preceded the Cod\u2019s arrival in 1966.<\/span>

<\/span>\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/span>

<\/span>But the V-22 has less range and less payload than the C-2: Northrop\u2019s prop plane can haul five tons of stuff 1,500 miles, but the V-22’s range with the same load could be as little as 50 miles, according to Navy statistics and Bell and Boeing\u2019s own literature. That\u2019s in part because the V-22 has just over a third the internal space of a C-2 and in the case of bulkier supplies would likely need to haul them slung by a rope suspended from the fuselage\u2014a huge source of drag.<\/span>

<\/span>\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/span>

<\/span>Extending the tiltrotor\u2019s flying distance would require the constant attention of Air Force aerial tankers, which can cost up to $10,000 per hour to operate. The V-22 is also slightly slower than the C-2, can\u2019t fly as high because it\u2019s unpressurized and costs more: $68 million for a new V-22 compared to an estimated $50 million for a new C-2.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Note that the Marines succeeded in delaying the CH-53K, which had<\/b> been under budget and ahead of schedule, in order to secure more orders for the V-22 as well.<\/p>\n

This is a complete clusterf%$#.<\/p>\n

*<\/sup>Full disclosure, I worked for General Dynamics, the prime contractor, on this vehicle when it was called the AAAV.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It appears that the US Marines are to replace the C-2 carrier onboard delivery (COD) aircraft with the V-22, because increased orders should lower the unit price of the V-22 and allow the Marines more of the expensive, crash prone, and maintenance intensive dog. The Marines have been very good at lobbying for really bad …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1007,1008,1226,1006,1161,982],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-186710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aviation","category-defense-procurement","category-helicopters","category-military","category-naval","category-stupid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186710"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186710\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}