The "Harrier carrier" force on an LHA/LHD is imbalanced because the ship's primary/design mission, which is to carry an air+amphibious mobile force, is massively compromised by the offloading of helicopters. It's even worse on the new America and Tripoli, which (in a display of incredible stupidity) don't have well decks.
In the case of those ships, the well deck has been removed, and the innards arranged with more hangar space, and the ballast tanks associated with the well decks have been replaced with more aviation fuel - all because the V-22 and F-35B are larger than the aircraft they replace. But that leaves inadequate ship-to-shore capacity and later LHAs get the well deck back.
Increasingly, it appears that Marine doctrine is being driven by the need to justify the cost of the weapons, rather than the other way around.
Last edited by LowObservable; 28th Dec 2015 at 14:53.