Can the Air Combat Element of the Marine Air Ground Task Force Successfully Conduct Operational Maneuver from the Sea in the 21st Century?

Operational Maneuver from the Sea (OMFTS) is a capstone concept that has the flexibility and diversity to meet all operational concepts in Joint Vision 2020. Under the OMFTS concept, a Naval Expeditionary Force can rapidly react to a crisis from a virtually undetectable position over the horizon, establish maritime superiority, conduct precision engagement with focused logistics and, due to the maneuverability of the naval forces, enhance its full dimensional protection. The Air Combat Element (ACE) will play a vital role in the accomplishment of the OMFTS concept. However, with the rapid rate of technological advances and the current and proposed Naval and Marine Corps aviation platforms designed to meet the OMFTS concept, is aviation able to become the integral maneuver element to successfully accomplish the four operational concepts that are embedded in Joint Vision 2020 and OMFTS? Is there a shortfall between the current and projected employment of aviation assets and the swift accomplishment of OMFTS objectives? If the MV-22 and JSF are integrated into the ACE, it is a fact that the MAGTF will be able to successfully conduct OMFTS. However, if these platforms are cancelled, the implementation of the OMFTS concept risks becoming fiction.