Keeping only one variant instead of cutting numbers of all 3 would, at the end of the day, deliver a bigger bang for your buck...to borrow a terrible cliche
Not that sure that it would. If you look at the published material from the SCMR and also the output from the combined think tank project that went public last week, only one of those talks about cancelling F35 at all.
http://www.csbaonline.org/wp-content...on-to-SCMR.pdf
Strategic Choices Exercise Outbrief | CSBA
The majority look at recapitalising fleets and maintaining a qualitative edge (whether you belive it or not!) rather than running on legacy cabs, so for USAF F35 instead of running on F16s. I doubt the USN can afford another A12-like cancellation and having to wait till the F/A XX, so F35C may be safer than people think. That leaves the B and most of the thnk tanks tried to maintain LHA/LHD numbers, which when you are cutting CVBG puts a slighly higher emphasis on f/w aboard the amphibs.