Marine F-35's and V-22 Osprey combine for rapid amphibious assaults

Defense One:
Earlier this month, six F-35B Joint Strike Fighters took off from the deck of USS America, a Navy amphibious assault ship off San Diego, California. Four of the Marine Corps aircraft attacked a simulated integrated air defense system on San Clemente Island, while the other two escorted a pair of Boeing V-22 Ospreys that simulated landing Marines on an enemy beach. The Nov. 20 demonstration was a unique “proof of concept” strike/assault support escort mission that also included a Bell UH-1Y Venom helicopter, a Bell AH-1Z Viper, and a Sikorsky MH-60S helicopter. This was a test of the so-called “Lightning Carrier” concept, an aircraft carrier loaded with F-35s and Ospreys. The goal: to show how the Marines would use the F-35B during the first, critical stages of expeditionary fighting, perhaps at the start of a major conflict.

Lt. Gen. Jon Davis, the Corps’ top aviation leader, said the F-35B rolls the capabilities of several older aircraft into one: situational awareness, electronic warfare, close air support, air-to-air combat. That makes the V-22 Osprey better at putting boots onto contested ground.
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There is more.

If they can put them on the beach, they can also put them behind enemy lines where they can be even more disruptive by using the same craft for a vertical envelopment operation.  That was one of the hopes for helicopters when they were first introduced into the Marine Corps.

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