Page 49 - F-35B and USMC

The Integration of the F-35B into USMC Operations

When visiting Fallon, we discovered that the U.S. Navy had taken this effort a step further than before.

Through global communications, a Carrier Strike Group in combat could reach back to instructors at NSAWC
to improve combat tactics almost real time.

Concurrently, during the Fallon work-up the air wing preparing to go to the next carrier deployment was
working directly with real time lessons to carry forward the tradition of the hallmark of Naval/Marine
aviators to be “ready on arrival.”
According to Rear Admiral Manazir: “LVCT will enable us to train in a more robust environment than we are
on our current ranges that are geographically constrained, and currently do not have the full high end threat
replicated.

LVCT will allow us to train to the full capabilities of our platforms across a variety of security environments
and do so without exposing our training process to an interested adversary.”

For Admiral Manazir, the new ships coming online are clearly part of the equation involved in the
transformation necessary for the sea services to operate and prevail in the 21st century battlespace.

The integration of the various platforms operating in the surface and subsurface fleet are evolving in a more
integrated and interactive manner, which can allow presence assets to reachback to the fleet or to the joint or
coalition forces to deliver escalating combat effects, as needed.

Notably, the evolving capabilities of the amphibious fleet provided a significant boost to the capabilities
of the sea services.

Rather than simply providing transportation for forces to get into the area of interest, the amphibious fleet,
becoming more of a task force, than being a narrowly understood Amphibious Ready Group, provides a
powerful persistent presence asset which can deal with a much wider range of tasks and with the new aircraft
onboard much greater capability to reach back to the rest of the forces provided by the sea services.

“The Marine Corps has grown in capability from being naval infantry to now having the capability to come
from the sea with high-end meshed, networked, honeycombed, resilient capability, with an array of options
depending on how you integrate the force.

The sea base itself has a powerful ability strategically to wage war because you don’t need a permission slip
from a foreign power to use their bases.

The United Stated Navy and the United States Marine Corps singly in the world have retained and
modernized the sized capability that allows one to fight a nation with our force rather than just fight another
naval force.”

Rear Admiral Manazir talked about the new large deck carrier, the USS Ford, in terms of its contribution to
the expanded battlespace, and not so much the epicenter of a classic carrier strike group.
He focused on the new ships – the USS America, the USS Ford and the Queen Elizabeth – as providing
foundations for 21st century operations.

“The USS Ford is a 21st century naval infrastructure asset, which lives off and further enables the
transformation of the air wing.

It’s a facilitator for all the things you’re going to do off the flight deck.

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