Bill Sweetman has a post over at Ares on the roll out of the F-35B, the STOVL (short takeoff, vertical landing) variant of the Joint Strike Fighter. But, according to Sweetman, after nearly 50 years of effort to produce a STOVL fighter that could fly supersonic, It’s like Ricky Watters said–for who? For what?
Go read the whole thing for yourself, but I’ve never found the rationale for STOVL very convincing. The Marines want to be able to operate from remote bases close to the battle, but a first-class Navy ought to be able to seize and build landing strips, position aircraft carriers, refuel in mid-air, etc., so as to obviate the need for STOVL. Our allies, the British and the Italians specifically, operate small carriers that rely on STOVL aircraft. So it makes a lot of sense as an export. But the added cost in R&D is substantial, and it has long since become a serious drag on an already expensive program. If the Marines ever get into a situation where they are dependent on STOVL for close air support, we will have already lost the battle.
