ABSTRACT
The advocates of spending less money on ship construction for the Navy saw their chance with the vertical or short takeoff and landing (VSTOL) initiative. Convinced that a VSTOL capability would be essential in the future, Admiral Holloway decided to press on, and a line item for VSTOL development was inserted in the budget. Certainly the Falklands War will have to be judged a strong plus in support of future development of other VSTOL aircraft. The acquisition environment when the VSTOL development was proposed in 1977 differed from that existing when the development of a jet carrier capability and the Polaris sea-based strategic missile capability were conducted. Systems analysis—or paralysis through analysis, as many called it—and the planning, programming, and budgeting system were firmly entrenched when VSTOL was first given serious consideration in 1977. The chief of naval operation had decreed that VSTOL would be pursued in an active weapons-acquisition program.
