The Marine Corps will buy carrier variants of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a reversal of the position the service has held for years that it wanted to operate an all jump-jet F-35 fleet off of both amphibious ships and aircraft carriers, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos told the Senate Armed Services Committee today. The Marines had planned to buy an F-35 fleet made up entirely of the short-take-off, vertical-landing variant, but the program...
