PAUL LEWIS /WILLIAMSBURG
Move will determine whether USMC focuses on STOVL or conventional variants
The process of fully integrating the US Marine Corps tactical aircraft force with that of the US Navy will begin in earnest next year with the gradual build-up in the number of USMC fighter squadrons assigned to navy carrier air groups (CAG).
The results of the move will determine whether the marines continue with plans to re-equip entirely with short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, or whether the fleet will also include conventional carrier (CV) versions.
The USMC plans to commit 10 of its 14 squadrons of Boeing F/A-18C/D Hornetsand seven Boeing/BAE Systems AV-8B Harrier squadrons to USN CAGs by 2007-08. The marines have four F/A-18D squadrons that are periodically deployed on board the USN's 12 aircraft carriers. That number will increase to five next year. In addition, a USMC officer will be appointed deputy commander of a CAG next year and commander within 12-18 months.
Moves to fully integrate the USMC into the CAG has raised questions about the size of the USMC's planned purchase of 609 F-35s and whether some should be the CV aircraft, which is heavier and has a 1,110km (600nm) combat radius, 280kmfurther than the STOVL variant.
"Our objective is still to be an all-STOVL force," Maj Gen Mike Hough, USMC deputy commandant aviation, said at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics International Powered Lift Conference, in Williamsburg, last week.
The USMC's current STOVL fighter, the AV-8B, is deployed at sea mainly aboard the USN's 12 Tarawa LHA and Wasp LHD-class amphibious warfare carriers which, due to their size, only carry six aircraft in addition to Sikorsky CH-53E and Boeing CH-46 transport helicopters. The USMC is planning a much larger wing of 20 F-35s and 15 Bell Boeing MV-22B Osprey tiltrotors for the navy's next generation LHAR assault carrier.
Plans also call for the merger of six Marine Corps air stations and two USN naval air stations into joint facilities.
Source: Flight International
