Jun 29, 2020,10:00am EDT
Marine CH-53K Emerges As The Fastest, Cheapest Way To Find A Future Army Heavy Lifter
Loren Thompson Senior Contributor
The U.S. Marine Corps has an uncanny way of seeing the future of military aviation long before it arrives.
During the 1990s, when the Pentagon was canceling programs right and left due to the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Marines kept their MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor on track despite strident opposition from defense secretary Dick Cheney. Osprey later transformed the way Marines conducted operations, becoming one of the safest and most versatile aircraft in the joint fleet.
In the following decade, the Marines strongly backed a vertical-takeoff-and-landing version of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, despite few other takers and political controversy surrounding the fighter program. That variant went on to become the most survivable close-air-support plane in Marine history, able to land virtually anywhere while collecting vast amounts of tactically useful intelligence.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/lorenthompson/2020/06/29/marine-ch-53k-emerges-as-the-fastest-cheapest-way-to-find-a-future-army-heavy-lifter/#26ab1840721c
