Mine Sweeping was a proposed mission....and very quickly was found to be impossible. That is an example of what I meant by a reduction in Mission Set capability. Then we might bring up HOGE capability at altitude...again very quickly one can see the aircraft is not capable of that. It is not alone in that problem but it is what it is as they say.
Does the Osprey beat the CH-46 in most taskings.....for sure.
How much money do we spend looking forward...and when is it a pipe dream and not a necessary goal?
What value proposing a three legged stool with but two legs installed?
Intellectual honesty requires one be able to discuss the actual situation and discount the hoped for result that not only has not been achieved but has no real hope of being achieved in the next decade or so.
Without the ability to land forces by boat or vehicle....beach assaults from OTH are just that....a damn pipe dream. Either we accept the Navy shall have to put ships at risk or the Marines cannot claim to be able to do real Amphibious Assaults from OTH.
Neither service will admit the extent the lack of the fast amphibious tractor harms the OTH strategy....as one of the two services shall have to surrender its position and that just ain't gonna happen.
In the mean while....huge amounts of Tax Dollars are being squandered on a capability that does not exist...and will not for the foreseeable future.
It is not just the Osprey that is expensive...but the special vehicles being bought that will fit inside the aircraft, the special ships that are needed to handle the Osprey, the R & D money that has been wasted so far on the fast Tractor and that shall invariably be spent yet again trying to come up with an Armored Amphibious Tractor that can cover ground like a speedboat.
Pardon me if I sound pessimistic about all this....but when Pigs Fly....we'll see that fast Tractor built and made operational. I dare say it will not be in my life time. So...the Marines are into Vertical Envelopment to secure a small beach head safe from enemy fire....where LCACs can land heavy equipment, supplies and large numbers of troops. Which is not in any sense an OTH amphibious assault.