Marine helicopter pilots prepare an AH-1Z Viper flight simulator for operations. Whenever the Marine Corps procures technology upgrades, significant time must be spent learning how to fix and operate the new equipment.
We have some readiness issues, par- ticularly with Marine aviation. On the ground, we’re in a better place, because capitalization and reset- ting equipment is not as difficult or expensive with no big time lag. Con- gress gave us a lot of money to reset ground equipment. Joint Light Tac- tical Vehicle and Amphibious Com- bat Vehicle we continue to procure to further enhance our capability.
On the aviation side, though,
the Marine Corps is in the middle of recapitalizing every model-type series airplane. Every one. We went from C-130Ts to C-130Js, [and] from F/A-18A through D and AV-8B Har- rier and EA-B6 Prowler to F-35B. That will go on for a number of years. For CH-53E, we’ve got an airplane, CH-53K, in R&D. I don’t suspect we’ll see the fi rst of those for a couple years. CH-46 has been replaced by MV-22 Osprey, but we’re still fi elding that airplane. To replace UH-1 Huey and UAH-1 Cobra, we’ve got the Yankee-model Huey and Zulu-model Cobra, and we’re still procuring those. Whenever a squadron receives an upgraded airplane, as with Huey and
PHOTO: SGT. BRIAN MARION, USMC
Cobra, it has to stand them down. Maintainers have to learn how to fi x the new airplane and pilots to oper- ate it. That aff ects our readiness. It’s starting to turn but won’t happen overnight. We have to get airplanes through depots, get people to fi x cer- tain things, and get better parts sup- port. We’ve got to fl y more hours and get these new airplanes.
I recently read that 25 percent of your aircraft isn’t on the flight line. The number of ready, basic aircraft is not where we want it to be. I don’t know the exact percent. It varies by model-type series. The most stressed airframes are the CH-53Es and the Hornet.
You have your first squadron of F-35Bs. How are they performing? They’re performing well. They were initially operational last July and are going to deploy after the first of the year. Are they as capable as they’re going to be? No. There are certain it- erations of that airplane. One of its ad- vantages is we can change its capability through nonmaterial ways, like going iPhone 6 to iPhone 7. Looks like the
same [thing], but it’s different. That’s what’s so cool about this airplane.
In your [frag order No. 1] message to Marines last January, you empha- sized the need to improve training. What deficiencies did you see? I was conveying the need to focus on training against different ad- versaries’ capabilities, which we’ve already discussed. I also wanted to emphasize that, particularly on [the] ground side, we need to take advantage of simulation and virtual environments.
You asked earlier what I would need to become an optimal force? I want a holodeck [virtual reality facil- ity] — like Jean-Luc Picard had on Starship Enterprise in Star Trek: The Next Generation — so we could do any simulation we wanted. It doesn’t exist, but that’s the vision. We need to get repetitions, not just for indi- viduals fi ring weapons or aircrews fl ying planes. We’re pretty good at those. But how do we give a com- pany commander or a battalion or division commander the ability to simulate maneuvering hundreds or thousands of people in a combined-
NOVEMBER 2016 MILITARY OFFICER 53
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