What Marine Corps aviation has in store over the next five years

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – Over the next five years Marine aviators should see more F-35s, an upgraded MV-22 Osprey fleet, a larger fleet of cargo aircraft and data-enabled predictive aircraft maintenance.

That’s the vision Deputy Commandant for Aviation Lt. Gen. Bradford Gering shared Tuesday at the Navy League’s annual Sea-Air-Space Exposition.

“So, what does modernization look like in the Marine Corps? It’s an all-fifth-gen tactical air force of F-35s augmented by collaborative combat aircraft,” Gering said. “It’s a full fleet of CH-53K helicopters for the heavy lift mission.”

Gering added that the MV-22 program will have finished its platform midlife upgrades over the remainder of the next five-year budget cycle.

Also involved in the Corps’ aviation wing will be its drone fleet of MQ-9 Reapers, which are flying today. Those will eventually see major payload and sensor upgrades, Gering said.

On the larger side of the aviation equation, the Corps expects to complete purchasing of the 95 total KC-130J cargo planes it needs for its transport fleet.

Two training squadrons and nine operational squadrons are now flying the F-35 Lightning II jet, a fifth-generation fighter. Over the next five years the Corps will build another seven active duty squadrons, which will be supplemented by two Reserve squadrons.

At the end of the F-35 transition there will be 18 active squadrons, a dozen flying the F-35B and six flying the F-35C. The two Reserve squadrons will fly the C variant, which is built for aircraft carrier takeoff and landing. The B variant can conduct vertical takeoff and landing.

Gering said the Corps also wants to be able to maintain and close kill webs and all enemy air assets through an airborne command and control and an “aviation ground support structure that is scalable and can conduct expeditionary operations and work in a distributed aviation environment.”

In its aviation plan, released in January, the Corps provided more details on its airborne assets.

The Marines shifted their F-35 plans to buy more carrier-based F-35Cs and fewer short takeoff and vertical landing F-35Bs. The total number of Joint Strike Fighters the service plans to buy remains 420.

The Corps will eventually fly 280 F-35Bs and 140 F-35Cs, more than doubling the number of F-35Cs included in the 2022 plan, which called for 353 F-35Bs and 67 F-35Cs.