Marines find a lot to like about the F-35

National Interests:

The United States Marine Corps’ top aviation officer offered an upbeat assessment of the Lockheed Martin F-35B Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) to the House Armed Services Committee during his testimony on July 6 . The stealthy new jump-jet is performing well during training exercises despite using an interim software configuration that affords the pricy aircraft only a fraction of the capabilities the Pentagon requires of it.

To illustrate his point, Lt. Gen. Jon Davis, the U.S. Marine Corps’ deputy commandant for aviation, described a training evolution at the service’s elite Weapons and Tactics Instructor course—which is run by Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One at Yuma, Arizona—where the F-35 was a participant. Where as normally half of a thirty aircraft strike package including Boeing AV-8B Harrier IIs, F/A-18Cs and EA-6B Prowlers would not make it through high-end air defenses, the new F-35s struck their targets with virtual impunity.

“The F-35’s—twenty-four to zero kill ratio—killed all the targets,” Davis said. “It was like Jurassic Park, watching a velociraptor—kills everything, does really well. We can’t get that airplane fast enough into the fleet.”

Davis did not elaborate on the details of what kind of high-end threats the F-35B flew against. But Davis did say that the Marines have performed operational readiness inspections with the F-35 and are standing up additional squadrons equipped with the new aircraft. However, the F-35B—as currently configured—has only an interim capability with a limited flight envelope and a limited ability to carry weapons. As the aircraft matures, the Air Force, Navy and Marines will need larger and more capable training ranges to cope with the demands of preparing for a high-end “near-peer” fight.
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There is more.

The F-35 has great potential and so far is living up to it, but there is more to do to make it ready to take on the sophisticated defenses of the Russians and Chinese.