APC Development and related topics.

[Marcello]

Originally Posted by FASTBOAT TOUGH

U.S. SECDEF Gates kills the EFV. I'm not adding it as a "deletion" to my last patch input yet. Gates also wants to kill the F-35 program as well to meet the goal of cutting the U.S. defense budget by 80 to 100 billion dollars between 2012 - 2016. The F-35 cut issue is meeting with resistance to Gates from the new congress. So congress might step into the fray to save the EFV as well. Only time will tell but as with real life vs game life one thing is certain for now, both will still be around after the next patch unless something drastic happens in real life.
http://www.defpro.com/news/details/21003/
Regards,
Pat

The F-35 cannot be completely killed, simply because it is the only way to give 5th generation fighter capabilities to the USN and several US allies, as well as replacing several aging USAF platforms. Maybe the vertical take off variant will be deleted and numbers trimmed somewhat but overall it is simply "too big to fail" at this point. Compared to that the EFV looks like a mere overpriced nice to have, although of course one would have to consider the background, such as which districts are going to benefit from it, how much lobbying power can be brought to bear in its favor etc.
However budgetary realities being what they are, something will give in at some point...