Ready to serve

“This was a significant day for Marine aviation and for our nation. Anyone who understands the nature of fifth-generation ‘TacAir’ knows that the F-35 is destined to dominate the battlespace for the next half century,” retired Lt Gen George Trautman, former USMC deputy commandant for aviation said at the November 20 ceremony. “Now that we have Lightning II aircraft operating in VMFA-121, I anticipate the pace of innovation and tactical development to increase exponentially. Today’s ceremony was a fitting commemoration of the next 100 years of Marine aviation. ” There has been some confusion in actual and social media over the term ‘operational’ ascribed to the unit, especially as the F-35B – known colloquially as the ‘Bravo’ in the USMC – is not due to undergo its operational test & evaluation (OT&E) before 2014, especially with OT&E being a vital step in the lead up to any type being cleared for operational release.

“We are not a training squadron, it’s not a test squadron, we’re an operational unit and we’ll work towards getting the aircraft to an operational capability,” the commanding officer of VMFA-121, LtCol Jeffrey Scott told Australian Aviation. “The squadron is an operational fleet unit, but we will not deploy operationally until the aircraft reaches its initial operational capability (IOC). ” To this end, Scott said VMFA-121 will receive 16 F-35Bs by September next year.

“We have three aircraft now and a fourth in acceptance flying at (Lockheed Martin) Fort Worth and we’ll have a total of 16 by the end of 2013. ” The USMC operates two different squadron sizes – with 16 aircraft or with 10. The larger squadron will commonly detach six jets and support personnel to a Navy amphibious landing helicopter dock for operations and still retain its ‘base’ of 10 aircraft. The smaller squadrons of 10 jets currently operate F/A-18A-Ds and will re-equip with the F-35C, deploying as part of a Navy air wing aboard the larger ‘big deck’ carriers.

Scott is a 25-year Marine Corps veteran and has flown multiple operational tours as a pilot, training instructor and weapons instructor on the AV-8B Harrier II.

The Yuma aircraft are the first to be delivered from the factory with Block 2A software as opposed to the test and training jets which currently still have the Block 1B load. “The Marine Corps will hit IOC with Block 2B software,” explained Scott. “And we won’t need a hardware mod to reach Block 2B. ” Scott said that, as the newer software loads are certified at the test squadrons, they will be uploaded to the operational jets at VMFA-121 and subsequent units, which will in turn provide feedback into the operational test (OT) process to assist the testers in hitting their test points.

Indeed, Scott hopes to provide some input from his unit’s operational experiences into the OT&E process, saying: “I have some meetings coming up with the OT people so we can help them meet their operational test points more quickly and help the process along. ” The USMC’s goal to declare IOC with Block 2B in 2015 is in contrast to the plans of the USAF and USN to not seek IOC until Block 3A – also known as Block 3I for ‘initial’ – has been cleared from 2017 onwards. But the USMC is confident the Block 2B-equipped F-35B will provide sufficient sensor integration, flight envelope clearances and weapons options for the jet to be significantly more capable than the AV-8Bs and F/A-18A-Ds it will replace in service.

Before that, as with all units re-equipping with a new type VMFA-121 will undergo a certification process before it commences flying operations at Yuma. “What we’re doing now is the same as that required by any new squadron regardless of what aircraft they fly, and that is to get certification,” Scott said.

“We are undergoing that shortly and we expect to be conducting local flight operations within the month. After that, we’re going to ramp up flying, but being that the aircraft is brand new and we’re the first squadron that will maintain the aircraft we’re also learning and developing our maintainers’ experience. ”

The F-35 is destined to dominate the battlespace for the next half century. LT GEN GEORGE TRAUTMAN

A key part of the maintenance training process involved sending a group of senior maintenance personnel already fully qualified on other types to the integrated training center (ITC) at Eglin AFB to be trained on the F-35.

“We’re going to ramp up the rate of effort as the experience of our maintainers grows,” Scott added. “We took maintainers who had senior qualifications on other platforms and transitioned them to the F-35B. They’ll form our core cadre as other maintainers come out of the school house. ” Following on from VMFA-121’s transition will be Yuma sister unit VMFA-211 in 2014. Interestingly, 211 was the squadron which lost at least six AV-8Bs and suffered several personnel killed – including the squadron’s commanding officer – in a brazen Taliban attack on their base in Afghanistan in September and subsequently returned to the US to reconstitute. Four squadrons based at Yuma will eventually be equipped with the F-35B at Yuma, while VMFA-121 is scheduled to be relocated to Iwakuni in Japan from 2017.

On flying the F-35B, Scott – who has only flown Block 1B jets with minimal handling clearances to date – was full of praise for the jet’s handling characteristics and is optimistic about the its future capabilities. “It flies tremendously well, it accelerates very rapidly and it doesn’t like to slow down – it’s a very slick jet,” he related. “The digital fly-by-wire controls really make it pretty easy to fly. ” “The sensor integration – it has some of its capabilities now and as its software grows it’s going to have even greater capabilities – you can really see where it’s going, and it’s very impressive,” he added. “As it reaches its combat capability it’s going to bring more to the table than anything we have now by a lot – in fact it already does. Its radar is impressive as are its other systems. It really has a lot to offer and as we get clearance on the weapons it will be a dominant aircraft both in the air-to-air and air-to-surface roles. ” Scott also provided an update on how development problems with the aircraft’s revolutionary helmet mounted sighting system (HMS) are going, following reports the system is experiencing lag and latency in the vision it projects onto the helmet’s visor.

“We have the helmet here and that’s what we use to fly. I’ve only ever flown with it,” he explained. “It is fair to say that some of the criticism of the helmet is overstated. The helmet is really nice and it provides a lot of information. In some of those areas where it’s overstated I can see what people are talking about. I’m not a test person – they have their requirements – but I feel the helmet is excellent and I’m really happy with it. I like it a lot. ” Concern has also been expressed in recent months over the security of the F-35’s revolutionary autonomic logistics information system, or ALIS. The system is designed and developed by Lockheed Martin to provide a centralised database of F-35 sustainment and support requirements as well as tasking and mission planning, and it is anticipated all US and foreign operators will sign up to ALIS. But recent concerns over the systems’ security – specifically after US Navy cyber experts were reportedly able to hack the system – meant VMFA-121’s stand-up was critically dependant on the clearance of the improved 1. 03 version of the system.

“We’re the first to use ALIS Block 1. 03 and we have literally just started using it,” said Scott. “It’s changed a lot since the previous version being used at Eglin. The security issues have been settled and we have it connected and it’s passed all its certification tests. We have the authority to operate. ” Bringing ALIS online at a facility means enhanced security and bandwidth requirements for F-35 hangars and maintenance facilities, so Yuma has seen an extensive upgrade in anticipation of commencing F-35B operations. Scott said: “We have a brand new hangar and that was required due to the security aspects and the bandwidth and power requirements for the aircraft. We have a second hangar which we’ve built for VMFA-121, and they’re multi-use hangars so they can be used with legacy aircraft too.

”It’s going to bring more to the table than anything we have now by a lot. LT COL JEFFREY SCOTT