A vigorous fight for money will define the year ahead for Marine aviation, according to the service's top pilot. At stake: the readiness of Marine aircraft, which has been spiraling downward for several years.
Continuing to underfund the air combat element will have dire consequences, warns Lt. Gen. Jon Davis, the deputy commandant for Marine aviation. The service needs more money to clear maintenance backlogs; improve training for pilots, crew and maintainers; keep mishaps in check; and develop platforms to meet future threats.
"I've got low readiness on the flight line and I've got very high operational tempo," he said. "And I've been underfunding those readiness accounts for a number of years. You can't sustain that forever."
Chronic underfunding has a cascading effect, Davis said. It has delayed aircraft maintenance at the unit and depot level, resulting in significant F/A-18 shortfalls, for example, putting the service 19 percent below its acceptable minimum number of operational aircraft. Fewer jets on the flightline means pilots fly fewer flight hours and get less practice, as do aircraft crews and maintainers, risking more mishaps.
In fact, a spate of crashes this year has bought the number of Marine aviation deaths to 18, a five-year high with three and a half months left in the year.
"When I took the job last July I saw that our numbers were creeping up," he said. "I saw the flight hours kind of going down. And my assessment was, if we couldn't pull the flight hours back up, we were going to have a continuing hard time with keeping the mishap rate under control."
But Davis said if he is adequately funded, he already has a reliable plan to bring aircraft readiness to acceptable levels within jfour years. A study of restoring readiness to the CH-53E Super Stallion, completed in June, shows the aircraft could be back on track in three years. For the AV-8B Harrier and F/A-18, that will take two and three years, respectively. A study of the MV-22 Osprey is about to begin.
While adequate funding is the top priority, there are significant aviation advances slated for the year ahead and beyond.
Despite a decrease in funds over the past several years, operational tempo remains high. Here, Marine pilots with Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force Crisis Response-Africa, coordinate air movements with the Spanish Navy aboard Spanish amphibious assault ship Juan Carlos I during deck landing qualifications on Sept. 9.
Photo Credit: Staff Sgt. Vitaliy Rusavskiy/Marine Corps
Enlisted maintainers
To improve safety and readiness, the Corps must invest in and grow the enlisted maintainer community, Davis said.
"I think we need to work harder and do better for our enlisted maintainers to give them the same tools, the same quality training that the pilots have and the air crew have," Davis said.
That includes a preliminary effort to create a new course for maintainers — their version of the Weapons and Tactics Instructor course for pilots. WTI is an intensive seven-week training effort to ensure pilots know every facet of their job.
Meanwhile, aviation leaders are working with Manpower and Reserve Affairs as part of a Corps-wide effort to identify the Marines in each community who fulfill a squad leader-like role. The service has begun offering incentives to retain corporals and sergeants who serve as infantry squad leaders. But in other communities like aviation, that critical leader may be of a different rank because technical aviation expertise takes years to develop.
"To say, 'Hey your squadron is fully manned; you've got 210 people' … that is not necessarily the number we need to look at," Davis said. "Do you have the density of the senior leaders, the senior supervisors, the guys with qualifications? Do you have the right inspectors, a master mechanic if you want to call it that."
It's too early to say whether this effort will bear fruit, with more money and training, Davis said, but he is now making the case for new incentives.
UAS advancements
In 2016, the MQ-21 Blackjack — an unmanned aerial system — will go to sea on deployment for the first time when it ships out with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is now gearing up for its predeployment training.
"Bottom line: It is late coming to the fleet, but it will come in in support of the 22nd MEU and quickly thereafter to support the rest of our Marine expeditionary units," Davis said. "It will give us 14 hours time on station, a 34-pound payload, and I think that is going to be a great capability for the Marine Corps."
That is part of an overarching effort to provide more UAS capabilities, like those used in Iraq and Afghanistan, to Marine forces afloat.
MV-22 updates
Upgrades for the Osprey are planned, including the development of a roll-on, roll-off fueling capability and arming the aircraft with missiles.
The refueling capability, which will receive funding in 2016 and be fielded beginning in 2017, will allow the tiltrotor to fuel everything from helos to F-35Bs, including other Ospreys. That is a significant advancement, Davis said. It will provide a KC-130J Super Hercules-like capability that can be based off a small amphibious ship.
"You could actually have a ship loaded with 16 F-35s and four V-22s for a certain period of time if the MAGTF commander needed that for [Marine expeditionary brigade] operations," Davis said, adding that during an initial assault, it would allow the Marine Corps' F-35s to penetrate deep into enemy territory.
Davis said the service will also continue to study placing more weapons on Ospreys in the year ahead. Tests during the most recent iteration of WTI included an Osprey that used an advanced nose sensor to identify targets and strike them with low-yield munitions.
"To me it's only a matter of time," he said. "It makes all the sense in the world."
CH-53K
The Corps next-generation heavy lift helicopter, the CH-53K King Stallion, should make its first flight before the end of the year, Davis said. It is a significant milestone for the aircraft, with engines that will provide 50 percent more power than the already behemoth CH-53E Super Stallion. The new version will be able to carry considerably more Marines and gear than the current version, especially at higher altitudes.
The Marine Corps will eventually buy 200 of the aircraft, with initial operational capability slated for 2019.
