Within a few hours the first F-35B squadron of the Marine Corps will reach Japan for the first official deployment of the history of the program Joint Strike Fighter. It is the first phase of a plan that will boost US military strength in the western Pacific.
The ten tactical platforms of the Marine Fighter Squadron 121 took off Monday morning from the Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona, to head to the MCAS Iwakuni, Japan. Six more platforms will reach Japan during the summer.
Il Marine Fighter Squadron 121 received his first F-35B in November of the 2012, three years before it was certified Initial Operational Capacity 31 July 2015 took place. The F-35B will gradually replace the F-18 Hornet and the AV-8B Harrier in service with the Marines and will radically change the C5I requirements.
Before the redeployment, the squadron participated in the maneuvers last December Steel Knight on the west coast of the United States and in California. The tests were specifically designed to further validate the platform and develop tactics, techniques and procedures in operational environments. The move to Japan lays the groundwork for a series of upcoming implementations, starting with the redeployment in the Pacific aboard the USS Wasp. The unit is part of the US Fleet Activities of Sasebo, Japan and integrated into the Forward Deployed Naval Forces operating in the region.
The USS Wasp, modified with Thermion flight deck lining, replaces the USS Bonhomme Richard, who will return to San Diego to undergo unspecified modernization work. Previously, the Marines carried out two sea trials on the USS Wasp, respectively in October of 2011 and in August of 2013. From the bridge of the USS Wasp, in the central Mediterranean, the AV-8B fighters took off Harrier and the AH-1W helicopters Super Cobra against enemy positions in the Libyan city of Sirte.
A second F-35B squadron should be deployed in the Middle East this year on board the USS amphibious assault ship Essex (photo). Rumors about a third squadron, this time of the Air Force, deployed by the summer in Europe.
The 1 Marine Corps Group has reached the Initial Operational Capacity with the 2B software block. The 2B confers Close Air Support basic with the possibility of launching AMRAAM (Advanced Medium Range Air to Air Missile), JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munition) and GBU-12 (laser-guided aerial bomb). The software for its cannon operation will be ready within the 2020.
The 2 Group Block 1B software presents most of the hardware changes already implemented and will be integrated into mass production. The aircraft could already go into battle with AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles, GBU-12 bombs and GBU-39. The latest tests of the Marine Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron1 are taking place with the 3F software.
In the context of Developmental Test III, for the first time an F-35B took off from the amphibious assault ship USS America fully loaded with laser-guided GBU 12/32 weapon systems, then successfully launched in the Yuma Proving Grounds, Arizona.
(photo: US Navy / US Marine Corps)
