Page 20 - F-35B and USMC

The Integration of the F-35B into USMC Operations

So you have to follow a sequence, it is very methodical about which electronic system you shut off. In the F-35
you come back, you do a couple things then you just shut the engine off, and it does everything else for
you. Sounds simple, even silly – but it is a quantum shift.

The voice of the pilots is clear.

The F-35 is a platform with the ultimate level of sophistication, made simple.

THE WAY AHEAD FOR USMC CON-OPS: THE PERSPECTIVE OF COL.
WELLONS, CO OF MAWTS-1
By Robbin Laird and Ed Timperlake

12/17/16

During our most recent visit to USMC Air Station Yuma, we had a chance to meet with the head of MAWTS-1
and discuss the way ahead for USMC concepts of operations as seen from this key tactical innovation center.

In our book on Pacific strategy, we highlighted the key role which the Marines are playing in shaping a new
concepts of operations for US forces working with the joint and coalition forces in the region.

MAWTS pilots and trainers are looking at the impact of V-22 and F-35 on the changes in tactics and training
generated by the new aircraft. MAWTS is taking a much older curriculum and adjusting it to the realities of the
impact of the V-22 and the anticipated impacts of the F-35.

MAWTS is highly interactive with the various centers of excellence in shaping F-35 transition such as Nellis AFB,
Eglin AFB, the Navy/ Marine test community at Pax River, Maryland, and with the United Kingdom. In fact, the
advantage of having a common fleet will be to provide for significant advances in cross-service training and
CONOPS evolutions.

Additionally, the fact that MAWTS is studying the way the USAF trains combat pilots to be effective flying the F-
22 in shaping the Marine F-35B Training and Readiness Manual is a testimony to a joint-service approach.

This is all extremely important in how MAWTS is addressing the future. An emerging approach may well be to
take functions and then to redesign the curriculum around those functions.

Laird, Robbin; Timperlake, Edward; Weitz, Richard (2013-10-28). Rebuilding American Military Power in the
Pacific: A 21st-Century Strategy: A 21st-Century Strategy (Praeger Security International) (pp. 258-259).
ABC-CLIO. Kindle Edition.

Question: When we were last here, MAWTS-1 did not yet have its own F-35s.

Now you do.

How are working its integration with the MAGTF?

Col. Wellons: The great thing about MAWTS-1 is we run the Weapons Training Instructor course at Yuma
twice a year, and as a former CO of MAWTS put it to me, WTI is where the USMC comes together every
year to train for war.

We are able to do the MAWTS high-end training in terms of aviation support to the MAGTF.

Second Line of Defense

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