F-35B Set for Sea Deployment in 2018

[F-22Raptor]

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Marine Corps will send the F-35B Lightning II strike fighter on deployments onboard amphibious assault ships in 2018, the Corps’ top aviator said.

Speaking to an audience July 29 at the American Enterprise Institute, Lt. Gen. Jon M. Davis, deputy commandant for aviation, said that the first operational F-35B squadron, Marine Fighter Attack 121 (VMFA-121), will deploy F-35Bs onboard an amphibious assault ship in summer 2018.

VMFA-121, currently based at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Yuma, Ariz., will move to MCAS Iwakuni, Japan, in January with 10 F-35Bs. In accordance with the Marine Corps Aviation Plan, VMFA-121 will receive six more F-35Bs next summer. Reaching full strength of 16 aircraft, the squadron will be able to deploy a six-aircraft detachment in 2018 onboard the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USSBonhomme Richard, which is based in Sasebo, Japan.

The second operational F-35B squadron, VMFA-211, also based in Yuma, is slated to send an F-35B detachment to sea onboard an amphibious assault ship, Davis said.

VMFA-122, an F/A-18 squadron, will become the third operational F-35B squadron and move from MCAS Beaufort, S.C. VMFA-314, also an F/A-18 squadron, will receive the F-35C in 2019 and deploy with that aircraft onboard an aircraft carrier in 2020, Davis said.

http://www.seapowermagazine.org/stories/20160801-f35b.html