LO,
Oddly enough, I asked exactly the same question of the Commandant of the USMC a few months ago. I also pointed out that the F-35B-only force had no electronic attack or AEW support.
He closed to about three feet distance and, very firmly, gave me the standard pitch on the wonders of F-35B, but did not answer the question.
Sounds like M-I-D territory, that...!
However, since the bloke can't answer that question (sensibly, as there is no good answer) this is why I'm more than a little concerned that Dave-B is an easy and profitable chop in January, esp. if sequestration comes through. The USMC can always fly Dave-C off the CVN (as they do now with Hornet) and hey presto, you've saved a bazillion dollars with very little impact on the force package. I've often thought that the USMC decision to have some Dave-Cs earlier in the year was the harbinger of such a switch.
And if we have that, then I guess we'll have to convert the QEs to cats 'n' traps after all... they'd be rather silly LPHs...
S41