> there's no good reason not to just make the Air Force use the same planes the Navy does Perhaps the Navy plane is designed to fly from carriers; to operate i

> there's no good reason not to just make the Air Force use the same planes the Navy does Perhaps the Navy plane is designed to fly from carriers; to operate in a wet, salty marine environment; and to operate where resources (fuel, parts, etc.) can be limited? Why would the Air Force want to make all those trade-offs in a $100 million plane? Remember that any trade-off will result in a certain number of additional dead pilots, failed missions, and lost expensive capital in a war. Perhaps the services need different ranges, have different refueling capabilities, have different functional needs (hunting subs, for example). They do different jobs, despite the fact that they both use small planes.