If you ask anybody who has been in fire-fight trouble on the ground he will say he needs help in a very short time or it will be all be over. He therefore desires something that can VTO and be doing 600 kts in five minutes sitting on its pad hot to trot 10 miles behind him. Not an aeroplane on a runway a hundred miles or more away. Don’t take it from me, as this is just the USMC idea of how it must be done. The Marines are not stupid and nor are the USAF. Previously the USAF had other priorities, so left VSTOL to the Marines. Times change and so do priorities. Close air support may well be the only fighting role left with men in the cockpits in another 20 years. Think about it.