Despite a handful of success stories like the Stryker troop carrier, the service seems to make the same mistakes over and over again by expecting industry to deliver revolutionary results for evolutionary prices.

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It is also one of the very few places that could plausibly field a successor to the venerable M113 troop carrier, which the Military Channel recently designated as the most important infantry vehicle in history.

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They also point out that a carrier and its aircraft can perform many more roles than an arsenal ship such as acting as a troop carrier or heliport, or providing aerial reconnaissance or cover to an amphibious landing.

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For instance, the Marine Corps is exploring how the vessel might be used as a troop carrier for small expeditionary units and their equipment, since in addition to all that space the littoral warship can launch and recover both boats and helicopters.

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The one new vehicle the service has managed to field in recent years, a wheeled troop carrier called Stryker, is an important addition to the mix of systems used in places like Afghanistan that the service will keep refining with better armor and electronics.

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But it's one thing to put people in uniform, and another thing to have clear command structure, or the capacity to move troops from point A to point B, or the capacity to make sure that the troop carrier from point A to point B has got the necessary air in its tires or oil in its engine.

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