Marines Add 13 Bs To F-35 Buy; Acquisition Costs Rise

Marines Add 13 Bs To F-35 Buy; Acquisition Costs Rise
Marines Add 13 Bs To F-35 Buy; Acquisition Costs Rise

WASHINGTON: At a time when much of the talk about the F-35 program has centered on trimming its overall numbers of 2,443, we learned today that the Marines plan to increase how many of the hovering B models they buy. Close observers of the program might not be too surprised by the Marines’ decision. At…

Marine Aviation Says He’d Like 13 More F-35Bs; Lockheed PM Speaks On Timing, Block Buy

Marine Aviation Says He’d Like 13 More F-35Bs; Lockheed PM Speaks On Timing, Block Buy
Marine Aviation Says He’d Like 13 More F-35Bs; Lockheed PM Speaks On Timing, Block Buy

PARIS AIR SHOW: On his way out the door, the head of Marine aviation, Lt. Gen. Jon Davis, told reporters he really, really wants more F-35Bs for the Marines as soon as possible. The current top goal is to add 24 F-35Bs to the Marine’s inventory, including four in the unfunded requirements list. Davis, a…

Marine Airpower’s Future: Networking F-35s, V-22s, & MUX Drones

Marine Airpower’s Future: Networking F-35s, V-22s, & MUX Drones
Marine Airpower’s Future: Networking F-35s, V-22s, & MUX Drones

CAPITOL HILL: The Marine Corps’ top pilot sketched a vision of fast-paced and networked air operations, spearheaded by F-35 fighters, V-22 tiltrotors, and the future MUX drones, all linked to each other and the rest of the force by Link-16 and MADL. Marine F-35s have already practiced spotting targets for Marine artillery rockets and Navy…

Mattis Review Only Looks At F-35C Vs. Super Hornet; F-35 Cost Study Separate

Mattis Review Only Looks At F-35C Vs. Super Hornet; F-35 Cost Study Separate
Mattis Review Only Looks At F-35C Vs. Super Hornet; F-35 Cost Study Separate

WASHINGTON: Of the three variants of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, only the carrier-launched F-35C is at risk of being replaced by Boeing’s F-18 Super Hornet, the Marine Corps’s top pilot said today. It’s not on the table to substitute Hornets for either the land-based F-35A variant or the vertical-takeoff-and-landing F-35B, Lt. Gen. Jon Davis, deputy Commandant for…

Davis: Marines Want VTOL Drone Before FVL

Davis: Marines Want VTOL Drone Before FVL
Davis: Marines Want VTOL Drone Before FVL

AUVSI: There’s money in the 2018 budget to develop a new sea-based, armed vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) drone the size of the Air Force’s MQ-9 Reaper, Marine Corps deputy commandant for aviation, Lt. Gen. Jon “Dog” Davis, says. Davis expects to see them in the inventory well before the Army-led Future Vertical Lift program produces new…

‘Optionally Piloted’ Aircraft Studied For Future Vertical Lift

‘Optionally Piloted’ Aircraft Studied For Future Vertical Lift
‘Optionally Piloted’ Aircraft Studied For Future Vertical Lift

WASHINGTON: The military wants to replace a host of current helicopters with aircraft that not only fly much faster, but can fly without a human pilot. The Army-led Future Vertical Lift program will study whether FVL should be an “Optionally Piloted Vehicle,” capable of accommodating a pair of highly-trained human pilots for complex combat missions or of…

EXCLUSIVE: Meet Bell’s V-247, Armed Tiltrotor Drone For Marines

EXCLUSIVE: Meet Bell’s V-247, Armed Tiltrotor Drone For Marines
EXCLUSIVE: Meet Bell’s V-247, Armed Tiltrotor Drone For Marines

PENTAGON: A sleek little model sits on the desk of Lt. Gen. Jon “Dog” Davis, Marine deputy commandant for aviation. What is that, we asked? The next tiltrotor Bell Helicopter Textron hopes the Marine Corps will buy. But it’s not the V-280 Valor, the new manned tiltrotor Bell plans to fly next year. It’s an…

Marine Flight Readiness Improving …Slowly; Thornberry Will Keep Pushing

Marine Flight Readiness Improving …Slowly; Thornberry Will Keep Pushing
Marine Flight Readiness Improving …Slowly; Thornberry Will Keep Pushing

WASHINGTON: Marine Corps aviation is on a “glide slope” to reaching acceptable readiness levels by 2020, the deputy commandant for aviation said Friday. But today the only units fully ready — with enough spare parts, trained maintainers and air crews, and adequate monthly flight hours for pilots — are two squadrons flying brand new Lockheed Martin F-35B…

Non-Fatal Accidents Double For Marine Corps Aircraft

Non-Fatal Accidents Double For Marine Corps Aircraft
Non-Fatal Accidents Double For Marine Corps Aircraft

CAPITOL HILL: The rate of non-fatal accidents has doubled in Marine Corps aviation since last year, and the Marines are turning to outside experts to figure out why. So-called Class C mishap rates — nonfatal incidents that cause $50,000 to $500,000 in damage or loss of work time — have occurred in 2016 at double their previous…

Marines Are Flying Only 60% of F-18 Hornets They Need

Marines Are Flying Only 60% of F-18 Hornets They Need
Marines Are Flying Only 60% of F-18 Hornets They Need

CAPITOL HILL: Chronic maintenance problems with the aging F-18 Hornet are hobbling the Marines, leaving them with less than 60 percent of the strike fighters they need to conduct training and operations, the deputy commandant for aviation told the Senate this afternoon. “I pulled up our readiness data just yesterday,” Lt. Gen. Jon Davis told the seapower subcommittee…

F-35As And F-35Bs Will Fly At Farnborough, RIAT

F-35As And F-35Bs Will Fly At Farnborough, RIAT
F-35As And F-35Bs Will Fly At Farnborough, RIAT

It should surprise no one, but the US Marine Corps, the US Air Force and the British will fly F-35s at both the Royal International Air Tattoo and the Farnborough Air Show this summer. “The U.S. Marine Corps is looking forward to demonstrating the capabilities of the F-35B Lightning II in the skies over the…

LTG Davis Talks To Boeing On Upgrading Half Of Marine V-22 Fleet

LTG Davis Talks To Boeing On Upgrading Half Of Marine V-22 Fleet
LTG Davis Talks To Boeing On Upgrading Half Of Marine V-22 Fleet

PENTAGON: The head of Marine aviation is talking with Boeing about costs and ways to upgrade more than half of the service’s 239 V-22 Ospreys to improve readiness. The basic plan would be to improve all 131 of the A and B models of the V-22 to the C level,  Lt. Gen. Jon Davis, told me in an interview…

Marines: F-35B Joint Strike Fighter Ready For War

Marines: F-35B Joint Strike Fighter Ready For War
Marines: F-35B Joint Strike Fighter Ready For War

WASHINGTON: The first variant of the most expensive conventional weapons program ever is now officially ready for combat. In one of his last acts as Marine Corps Commandant, future Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford announced today that the Marine model of the Joint Strike Fighter, the F-35B vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) version, has…

Marines Begin Final Checks For F-35B IOC; ‘On Track’ For End Of July

Marines Begin Final Checks For F-35B IOC; ‘On Track’ For End Of July
Marines Begin Final Checks For F-35B IOC; ‘On Track’ For End Of July

WASHINGTON: A select group of 12 Marines in Yuma, Ariz. began testing the first squadron of F-35B pilots, inspecting their aircraft and checking maintenance procedures and personnel yesterday as the end game for declaring Initial Operating Capability for the aircraft before the end of July. “Initial operating capability (IOC) for the Marine Corps F-35B is…