The U.S. Marine Corps is on track to begin deploying its new Lockheed Martin [LMT] F-35 Lightning II fighter overseas for the first time in early 2017 in the Western Pacific, the service’s commandant said Aug. 9.
“We’re going start to see that airplane deploy overseas after the first of the year,” said Gen. Robert Neller, who spoke at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C.
Neller later told reporters that an F-35 squadron will go to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Japan and eventually be stationed there permanently with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), which also has Bell Helicopter Textron [TXT]-Boeing [BA] MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft.
“We’re just going to take advantage of the opportunity and put [the F-35] on a MEU and figure out how we work that in,” he said. “Now you’re going to have an MEU with Ospreys and F-35, which I think is a pretty capable platform.”
The Marine Corps is buying the stealth fighter to replace aging F/A-18 Hornets, AV-8B Harriers and EA-6B Prowlers. Two Marine squadrons are now considered combat-ready, with the first having achieved that milestone in July 2015.
In other comments, Neller told the CSIS audience that the Marines continue to conduct a study of what its force structure should look like in 2025. The study is exploring whether to increase capabilities in such areas as air defense, cyber warfare and electronic warfare. It is also considering whether to designate an assistant squad leader in each infantry squadron to fly unmanned aerial vehicles and help the squad leader manage the UAV-gathered information.
“We’re going to operate on the assumption that we’re going to have 182,000 Marines because that’s what we’ve been resourced for, so we have to figure out how we’re going to reshape this Marine Corps” without increasing its size, Neller explained. “It would be great if we could have the resources to have 190,000 Marines, but we are not assuming that.”
The service is also looking at ways to prepare Marines for the growth of hostile UAVs. Recent exercises at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif., involved small quadcopters posing as adversaries.
After years spent fighting on land in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Marine Corps is rebuilding its amphibious skills by doing more exercises with allied ships and by “using every opportunity we can to get Marines on what I would call alternative platforms,” such as high-speed vessels and mobile landing platforms, Neller said. The Marines are also trying to improve their ability to clear mines in shallow waters near landing zones.
Making ground vehicles better defended against enemy weapons remains a priority, the general added. The Marines are evaluating active protection systems made by U.S. and foreign firms and plan to test some of them on tanks with the Army this summer.