The new budget cuts, in the wake of three years of major program cancellations, also have raised concerns about Corps plans to replace its aging fleet of AV-8B Harrier jump jets and F/A-18 Hornet fighters with the F-35B. Combined with new advanced-generation helicopters and the MV-22 Osprey V/STOL (vertical/short takeoff/landing) tilt-rotor transport, the Corps’ goal was to become a fully vertical aviation force. But both aircraft were the targets of budget-cutters even before the current U.S. and global economic troubles.
“The ability to employ a fifth-generation aircraft from amphibious shipping doubles the number of ‘carrier’ platforms from which the United States can employ fixed-wing aviation,” Amos testified regarding the F-35B. “[And] calls by some to reduce MV-22B procurement as a DoD cost-savings measure are puzzling. Their arguments are ill-informed and rooted in anachronisms when measured against the proven record of performance and safety this force multiplier brings to today’s battlefields in support of Marines and the joint force.”
Both represent capabilities currently being built only by the United States, providing a unique capability not only to project force from the sea, but then to operate from austere forward bases ashore, he said: “So if those lines are closed, that becomes terminal. That will become irreversible. You will not be able to gain that back.”
DoD’s first production F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) flies toward its new home at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., escorted by Marine Corps F-18 Hornets. The Marine varient of the JSF belongs to Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501 (VMFAT-501). The Marines of VMFAT-510 received two F-35Bs Jan. 11, 2012. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Joey Santiago
That the need for a Marine air fleet – even after decades of combat operations – continues to be challenged has long been a sore point for the Corps, which has made aviation a key part of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) concept, which itself is central to Corps combat structure and concepts of operation. Following a tradition of pushing the aviation envelope, Amos and his predecessors opted not to buy the latest versions of the F/A-18, choosing instead to put the future of Marine fixed-wing air on the F-35B.
“Marine air is … not redundant. The U.S. Air Force cannot come from the sea; nor are most of its aircraft suitable for expeditionary missions. The Navy currently does not invest in sufficient capability to operate their aircraft ashore once deployed – a requirement that has risen often in the past in support of both naval and land campaigns. If Navy aviation were to buy the capability to deploy effectively to austere ashore bases from their ships, they would find it would cost as much, or more, than it costs them currently to do so on behalf of the Marine Corps,” he argued.
In January 2012, the Marine Corps took delivery of its first two operational F-35Bs at the F-35 Integrated Training Center at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. The initial aircraft will be used by the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing’s (MAW) F-35 training squadron, Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501 (UMFAT-501), for pilot and maintainer training.
“The Marine Corps has to be ready to fight across the spectrum of war; a force that is most ready when the nation is least ready. The F-35B gives us the capability to do just that,” Maj. Gen. Jon M. Davis, commanding general of 2nd MAW, said at the delivery ceremony.
Flares are discharged from a U.S. Marine Corps CH-53D Sea Stallion helicopter of Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 363 (HMH-363) during a routine flight operation in the Helmand River Valley, Helmand province, Afghanistan, Jan. 5, 2012. The Marine Corps remains heavily engaged in Afghanistan. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Robert Carrasco
The delivery was a major highlight for the STOVL variant in the wake of program problems and delays that led to a three-year probation of the F-35B – and a threat from then-Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to cancel the variant if significant progress was not seen.
Amos had vowed to take personal oversight of the -B. Not long before the deliveries to Eglin, he told Congress the aircraft caught up with nearly all program milestones during 2011, including sea trials and vertical landings on board an amphibious warship.
As Brig. Gen. Gary Thomas, assistant commandant-Aviation, told Defense, aviation – especially fixed-wing STOVL – is critical to the Marine Corps and to the joint force.
“The Marine Corps is a light, general purpose force. One of the real advantages of that is the ability to move quickly to an area where required, so much of the firepower we have in the MAGTF comes from our tactical fixed-wing aviation. That is the underlying premise for having our own organic air,” Thomas said.
“As a part of joint doctrine, we also support the joint force commander, providing excess sorties and interdiction and reconnaissance sorties. Because of the nature of our force, we require the organic capability, but also are an integral part of the joint force. The current capabilities we have with the F/A-18 and AV-8B are sufficient to get us out to the 2020 point, so as we begin to transition to the F-35B in about 2015, it was the right choice.”