WASHINGTON — To meet the pressing needs of the National
Defense Strategy (NDS), the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps are discarding development
measures that have slowed the production of new amphibious ships and other
platforms, Marine Commandant Gen. David H. Berger said.

“We’re not going to do that,” Berger said of past procedures where “the Navy and Marine Corps figure out what we might need, then we get with industry, then we go back and forth for a couple of years.”

Instead, he told a Feb. 11 congressional forum on amphibious
warships, “We have to accelerate production now. We cannot wait four or five
years to begin.” The requirements evaluation process is already underway, and
it is teamed with industry to determine what is in the realm of possibility,
Berger added.

When he became commandant in July, Berger said his top
priority is designing a force that could meet the threat of strategic competitors
like China, which is outlined in the NDS. His Commandant’s Planning
Guidance states that Marines will be trained and equipped as a naval
expeditionary force-in-readiness, prepared to operate inside actively contested
maritime spaces in support of fleet operations. His plan calls for both force
structure and operational changes, including dispersing smaller and highly
mobile Marine expeditionary units — carried by smaller, cheaper and more
numerous surface vessels — that can move their base of operations within 48 to
72 hours.

“The capability, the lethality of a forward Navy/Marine
Corps team is the unique contribution that we have. This is what amphibious
forces bring — the ability, at the times and place of your choosing, to put
your forces where you want to, when you want to,” Berger told the Capitol Hill gathering,
which was sponsored by the Amphibious Warship Industrial Base Coalition.

In his opening remarks at the forum, retired Navy Rear Adm.
Sam Perez, the coalition’s chairman, noted that more than 70 companies in 44
states and more than 250 congressional districts provide parts worth more than
$1.4 billion for the construction of amphibious warships.

Two long-term studies — to determine how many and what kind
of ships the Navy will need in the next five to 15 years and what kind of
Marines and Sailors should man them — will be released soon, Berger said. A Force
Structure Assessment (FSA) conducted by the Navy in 2016 called for a 355-ship
fleet. A new FSA, known as the Integrated Naval FSA (INFSA), to include the new
integration of Navy and Marine Corps personnel and assets, is expected to
initiate a once-in-a-generation change in the Navy’s mix of ships. Berger said the
Corps’ work on the INFSA is done, and he’s waiting for Defense Secretary Mark
Esper and Deputy Secretary David Norquist to complete their review.

In addition to the INFSA, the Marines have conducted their own Force Design Assessment to determine the size and structure of Marine end strength. That document also is awaiting review by Esper and acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly. In his commandant’s guidance, Berger said he was prepared to reduce force structure in exchange for more modernization funding. The Department of the Navy’s fiscal 2021 budget, released Feb. 10, called for reducing the size of the Marine Corps by 2,100 to 184,100 active-duty personnel.

“We’re not getting smaller for smaller’s sake,” Berger told reporters after his speech to the amphibious group. “We need resources, and when we shrink a little bit in structure, we’re going to take that money and pour it into the Marine Corps.”

The U.S. Navy is seeking to shave $1.4 billion from the
Marine Corps fiscal year 2021 budget request and to reduce the active-duty
force by 2,100, according to new Defense Department budget documents.

The Marines’ piece of the Navy Department’s $207.1 billion budget request for fiscal 2021 amounts to $46 billion, down from the $47.4 billion the Corps received in the enacted 2020 budget.

See details of the Navy’s proposed fiscal year 2021 budget here.

The National Defense Strategy (NDS) shifted focus from short
conventional wars and protracted counterterrorism operations to “the high-end
fight” and the re-emergence of China and Russia in a ‘great power competition,’
said Deputy Defense Secretary David L. Norquist, explaining the reasons for Pentagon
funding diversions in a flat $705.4 billion topline budget.

“That means we had to make additional tough choices and
major cuts in some areas in order to free up money to continue to invest in
preparing for the high-end fight,” Norquist told reporters at a Pentagon budget
briefing.     

Total Marine Corps end strength dropped 2,100 to 184,100
active-duty officers and enlisted Marines from the 2020 figure of 186,200. Reserve
strength remained the same as 2020 at 38,500 officers and enlisted Marines. The
force reduction is part of “efforts to align and sustain our force, as
described by the NDS,” said Rear Adm. Randy B. Crites, the deputy assistant secretary
of the Navy for budget.

The force cuts don’t target operational units per se, Crite
said, adding that they are “primarily focused on headquarters reductions. They
looked for excess capacity.”

The number of Navy amphibious ships, key to Marine Corps
expeditionary operations, stayed flat at 33 ships, with the addition of one amphibious
transport dock ship and the retirement of one dock landing ship. Most of the
Marines’ $7 billion operation and maintenance funding for 2021 is dedicated to expeditionary
forces.

The Navy’s $17.2 billion aircraft procurement budget includes 10 F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing Lightning II strike fighters to replace Marine AV-8B Harrier jets. Seven CH-53K heavy-lift helicopters, nine MV-22B variants of the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft and five more VH-92A presidential executive helicopters also are included in the Marine aircraft procurement budget.

The $2.9 billion Marine procurement budget also includes 752 Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, a joint Army-Marine Corps program and the first full-rate production lot, 72, of the Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV), which is phasing out Cold War-era Assault Amphibious Vehicles.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The next U.S. Marine aircraft squadron scheduled for transition to the F-35 Lightning II strike fighter made its last flight in an F/A-18 Hornet strike fighter Jan. 23. 

The flight by Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (All-Weather) 225 (VMFA(AW)-225), based at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California, completed the phase-out of its last F/A-18D Hornets, the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing said on its website. 

The squadron is slated to begin transition to the F-35B, the short-takeoff/vertical landing version of the Lightning II. According to the fiscal 2019 Marine Corps Aviation Plan, VMFA(AW)-225 is scheduled to begin its transition to the F-35B in fiscal 2021. 

Presumably the squadron designation will drop the (AW) suffix for transition. The squadron will follow VMFAs 121, 211 and 122 as the Corps’ fourth operational F-35B squadron. VMFA-225 will move to MCAS Yuma, Arizona, to join 211 and 122. 

The Corps plans to stand up a second F-35B replacement training squadron, VMFAT-502, at Miramar this year to support the increasing F-35B training load. The temporary stand-down of VMFA-225 will enable the Corps “to recapitalize structure and manpower to help VMFAT-502’s stand up and then transition to F-35B at MCAS Yuma,” according to the aviation plan. 

The last Hornet flight of VMFA(AW)-225 occurred two days after VMFA-314 flew the Corps’ first carrier-capable F-35C versions to Miramar from Naval Air Station Lemoore, California, where VMFA-314 has been going through transition from the F/A-18C Hornet to the F-35C. VMFA-314 is scheduled to be ready for a deployment on an aircraft carrier in early fiscal 2022.  

ARLINGTON, Va. – Naval ordnance experts will be testing heavy weapons precision ammunition, that could hit enemy drones “like a shotgun blast,” offering a counter-unmanned aircraft system (C-UAS) shield for littoral combat ships (LCS).

Rogue civilian drones and enemy attack and surveillance UAS are a growing concern across the military, especially after swarms of drones attacked Saudi Arabian oil facilities last September. Two months earlier, a Marine Corps anti-drone system downed an Iranian UAS that got within 1,000 yards of a Navy ship in the Strait of Hormuz.

“There’s a lot of interest in the Navy now for a counter
drone system,” said Kevin Knowles of Northrop Grumman Mission Systems. “How do
you shoot down these quadcopters? Trying to hit them with a round is not that
easy,” he added.

Northrop Grumman, which makes mission modules for the LCS,
is exploring something called precision air burst munition for the twin 30 mm
guns in one of the Surface Warfare Mission Modules. A laser range finder on the
gun determines the range.

“There’s a modification that would need to be made to the
gun to fire the round,” Knowles explained Jan. 16 at the Surface Navy
Association convention. “It actually programs the round to fly out a certain
distance. And then it blows up almost like a shotgun blast,” he said, noting
the point-and- shoot proximity round can actually detect the target and gets
about a certain distance away before exploding.

The Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) is slated to run tests on the proximity rounds in the Spring, he said.

“And so, assuming that test goes well, then we’ll start putting those rounds in the magazines” of the 33 mm guns on both the Freedom and Independence variants of the LCS. Because the 30 mm gun has a dual ammunition feed, the high explosive rounds the guns now fire could be loaded in one feed while the precision air burst proximity rounds could be fed into the other. “That will give the LCS a counter UAS capability,” Knowles said.

ARLINGTON,
Va. — The fielding of the RQ-21A Blackjack unmanned aerial system achieved full
operational capability in 2019, Navy’s program manager said.

Col. John
Neville, the Blackjack’s program manager for the Program Executive Office-Unmanned
and Strike Weapons, told Seapower at the Surface Navy Association gathering
here that all 21 systems for the Marine Corps and 10 for the Navy have been delivered
to fleet and training units.

The
Blackjack, built by Boeing’s Insitu, is a twin-boom, single-engine, small
tactical unmanned aerial vehicle that carries modular payloads mostly for
surveillance. It is pneumatically launched and is recovered using a skyhook
arrestment system. A single Blackjack system includes five UAVs, two ground
control stations, various payloads and a set of launch and recovery systems.

The Blackjack
now equips four Marine UAV squadrons plus a fleet replacement detachment. The
Marine Corps deploys the Blackjack with its Marine expeditionary units onboard
amphibious warfare ships. The 10 systems for the Navy have been delivered to
Navy Special Warfare Command and made two deployments in 2019.

Neville said
the Blackjack has demonstrated “great reliability.”

He said that
with fielding complete, his office is concentrating on sustainment of the
Blackjack and also on Foreign Military Sales. Two nations, Canada and Poland,
have procured the Blackjack and Neville said there are more possible sales “on
the horizon.”

Foreign sales will help to
bring down the cost of the Blackjack, he said.

ARLINGTON,
Va. — The strategy behind the integration of the Navy and Marine Corps is being
driven by China’s emergence as a sea power, according to the commandant of the U.S.
Marine Corps.

“The thing
that has driven us to where we are right now is the paradigm shift by China
moving to sea,” after years of building up its defensive forces and weaponry, Gen.
David H. Berger said Jan. 15 at the Surface Navy Association’s annual symposium
here.

“We can no
longer afford for the Navy and Marine Corps not to be integrated,” he said,
adding “It’s a must-do. Our naval force is unbalanced.”

In an era of
global terrorism and asymmetric warfare, both services had different tasks to
do that strayed from traditional fleet operations. However, for the next 20 to
40 years, with a rising China and a resurgent Russia creating a new ‘great power
competition,’ the tasks and the challenges have changed.

A Sept. 6,
2019, memo signed by Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday and Berger stated
the services will work on a “comprehensive naval force architecture”
and an integrated force-structure assessment.

The Navy has
largely been a big ship, standoff force with long-range precision weapons. The
Marines have handled a number of tasks such as counter-insurgency, infantry
patrolling and urban and mountain warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan. It’s been
years since most Marines have logged sea duty aboard ship.

Berger said
he and Gilday are developing a force structure that provides depth “all the way
forward and all the way back.” A standoff force won’t provide the deterrence
needed in the future, he maintained. “The farther you back away from China,
they will move toward you,” Berger said, adding that any forward projecting
force must be able to switch to offense if deterrence fails. “We will not be
given the chance to swap out that [deterrent] force for another force. A great
power competitor will not allow us to do that,” he noted.

Deterrence is the underpinning of the National Defense Strategy, Berger told Seapower when asked how units like the 700 Marines rotating through training tours in Norway since 2017 fit into the new strategy.

“The forces that we have in Europe, and specifically in Norway, are part of U.S. deterrence against Russia or anyone else doing bad behavior. If that doesn’t work out on some future date, the forces that are in Norway and Europe have to be ready to fight immediately. They have to have the equipment; they have to have the training. They have to be ready.”

Asked about
the focus on China, Berger said, “I think the read of the National Defense
Strategy is pretty straightforward. What the primary focus is, in the primary
theater is not exclusive, of course, but it does prioritize. That’s where we
take our lead from.”

PHILADELPHIA — Boeing and Bell Textron Inc. have delivered the first modified MV-22 Osprey to the U.S. Marine Corps for improved readiness and reliability of the tilt-rotor fleet, Boeing said in a release. 

The Marines have multiple configurations of the MV-22 aircraft in service. Under the Common Configuration-Readiness and Modernization (CC-RAM) program, Bell Boeing is reducing the number of configurations by upgrading block “B” aircraft to the current block “C” configuration. 

“Our first CC-RAM aircraft returning to Marine Corps Air Station New River was a key program benchmark,” said U.S. Marine Corps Col. Matthew Kelly, program manager, V-22 Joint Program Office (PMA-275). “We are excited to see the capability, commonality and readiness improvements these CC-RAM aircraft bring to the fleet as part of the Marine Corps’ V-22 readiness program.” 

As a block “B” configuration, this MV-22 was originally delivered to the fleet in 2005. In 2018, the aircraft flew from Marine Corps Air Station New River to the Boeing Philadelphia facility for modernization. 

“This milestone marks the beginning of an Osprey evolution,” said Kristin Houston, vice president of Boeing tilt-rotor programs and director of Bell Boeing’s V-22 program. “Through a shared focus on safety and quality, the Bell Boeing team is delivering modernized MV-22 aircraft that are ready to serve our dedicated servicemen and women who rely on this essential aviation resource.” 

The next CC-RAM delivery is expected in early 2020. 

“We look forward to having the remaining MV-22 block “B” aircraft rejoin the fleet in a block “C” configuration,” Kelly said. 

In November 2019, the U.S. Navy awarded Bell Boeing $146 million to upgrade nine additional MV-22 aircraft under the CC-RAM program, with work expected to be completed in March 2022. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Marine Corps must change course. Peer
competition from Russia is resurgent and China is rapidly expanding its
influence. A return to a Fleet Marine Force is the new reality — and the sea
service must do all this in the face of budgetary uncertainty from Capitol
Hill, a top deputy of Commandant Gen. David H. Berger told a gathering at Navy
League headquarters on Nov. 21.

Brig. Gen. Robert C. Fulford, Berger’s legislative assistant,
told defense industry representatives at the Navy League’s monthly “Special
Topics Breakfast” that Berger is determined to carry through with the striking
directives he set forth this year in his “Commandant’s Planning Guidance” soon
after rising to become the 38th commandant of the Marine Corps. This includes
the notion that the Corps must restructure and, in Fulford’s words, “divest in
order to reinvest.”

“The recognition that there is a need to change is resonating
across the force,” Fulford said.

To do this, he said, the Marine Corps is taking a
“force-design approach.” He told a questioner later during the breakfast program
that this restructure didn’t necessarily mean doing away outright with certain programs
— just that some would need to be scaled back to better integrate Marine
missions with those of the U.S. Navy.

Fulford, who said he was “in the amphib business” and up until June was director of the Expeditionary Warfare School at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, delivered a history lesson of sorts, saying the Corps was a “threat-based force” in a “bipolar world” from 1947 to 1991 when the single “peer competitor” to the U.S. was the Soviet Union. Now, he said, after years of fighting terrorism, the world the U.S. faces is “multipolar” with the Russian and Chinese surges, Iran and North Korea’s aggression and the continuing threats from nonstate actors.

“I know that the world ahead of us is going to be profoundly
different than the world behind us,” he said. He also mentioned that Navy
Secretary Richard V. Spencer is “intimately involved” in Berger’s proposed
force restructure and that the reception to it had been warm from leaders in
Congress.

But Fulford, who noted that he didn’t have a legislative
affairs background, also spoke at length about the cycle of continuing budget
resolutions in Congress that hampers Marine and Navy efforts to carry out any
force restructuring.

He said the sea services face the prospect of having to operate under a full-year continuing resolution (CR), which freezes spending at prior-year levels, rather than the regular appropriations process that allows for budget expansion — or at least flexibility — and proper defense program planning in conjunction with the defense industry.

The U.S. Senate is set to vote on a short-term, House-passed
CR that would avert a government shutdown but only extend funding through Dec.
20. In an atmosphere filled with impeachment hearings and resistance to funding
for President Trump’s border wall on the southern border with Mexico, Congress
may need another CR and may not be able to return to regular order anytime soon.

“We all recognize the tyranny of the congressional
calendar,” Fulford said, adding that military services — the Corps included —
had “normalized life under budget uncertainty.” He mentioned that projects such
as the restoration of housing at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, were still slowed
by budgetary uncertainty more than a year after Hurricane Florence struck the
base.

The commandant also “appreciates the impact of the CR on the industrial base,” Fulford added, recognizing that industry representatives were in the audience at Navy League HQ.

“We understand what it means to the small-business owner,” he said.

STAFFORD, Va. — BAE Systems has received a $120 million contract from the U.S. Marine Corps for additional Amphibious Combat Vehicles (ACVs) under a third order for Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP), the company said in a release. This award is a next step on the path to Full-Rate Production. 

An Oct. 29 Pentagon announcement said the order was for 30 ACVs.  

This latest contract is for the ACV personnel carrier variant (ACV-P), an eight-wheeled amphibious assault vehicle capable of transporting Marines from open-ocean ship to shore and conducting land operations. Each vehicle embarks 13 Marines in addition to a crew of three.  

“This award further validates the Marine Corps’ confidence in the vehicle’s proven capability in meeting their amphibious mission and represents an important step toward fielding the vehicle in the Fleet Marine Force. The ACV is a highly mobile, survivable and adaptable platform designed for growth to meet future mission role requirements while bringing enhanced combat power to the battlefield,” said John Swift, director of amphibious programs at BAE Systems.  

Current low-rate production is focused on the ACV-P variant. More variants will be added under Full-Rate Production to include the command and control (ACV-C), 30 mm medium-caliber turret (ACV-30) and recovery variants (ACV-R) under the ACV Family of Vehicles program. BAE Systems previously received the Lot 1 and Lot 2 awards. 

The Marine Corps selected BAE Systems along with teammate Iveco Defence Vehicles for the ACV program in 2018 to replace its legacy fleet of Assault Amphibious Vehicles, which have been in service for decades and were also built by BAE Systems. 

ACV production and support is taking place at BAE Systems locations in Stafford, Virginia; San Jose, California; Sterling Heights, Michigan; Aiken, South Carolina; and York, Pennsylvania. 

The global community of C-130J Super Hercules operators recently surpassed 2 million flight hours, Lockheed Martin announced in an Oct. 15 release. These hours were logged beginning with the C-130J’s first flight on April 5, 1996, through the end of July 2019. 

Twenty-two operators from 18 nations contributed to this achievement, adding hours through multiple missions including combat, transport, aerial refueling, special operations, medevac, humanitarian relief, search and rescue, weather reconnaissance, firefighting and commercial freight delivery. 

“The C-130J has earned a reputation as the world’s workhorse, and this most recent achievement is a powerful reminder of the Super Hercules’ unmatched global reach.”

Rod McLean, vice president and general manager of the Air Mobility & Maritime Missions line of business at Lockheed Martin

Rod McLean, vice president and general manager of the Air Mobility & Maritime Missions line of business at Lockheed Martin, announced the milestone at the Hercules Operators Conference, the annual C-130 operator-industry event held in Atlanta. 

“The C-130J has earned a reputation as the world’s workhorse, and this most recent achievement is a powerful reminder of the Super Hercules’ unmatched global reach,” McLean said. “Crews continue to exemplify the C-130J’s proven capability and versatility with every mission they fly. The Lockheed Martin team is proud of the work of the Super Herc crews who rely on the C-130J to support vital missions, both home and abroad.” 

Countries with military variant C-130Js contributing to these flight hours include (in order of delivery) the United Kingdom, United States (the U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard), Australia, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Canada, India, Qatar, Iraq, Oman, Tunisia, Israel, Kuwait, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, France, and Bahrain. Also contributing is Lockheed Martin Flight Operations, whose crews are the first to fly every C-130J produced. 

The U.S. Air Force maintains the largest C-130J fleet, with Super Hercs flown by Air Mobility Command, Air Combat Command, Air Education and Training Command, Special Operations Command, and Air National Guard, and Air Force Reserve units. In addition, Defense Contract Management Agency crews support C-130J test flights at Lockheed Martin’s Aeronautics site in Marietta, Georgia, home of C-130 production. 

The C-130J Super Hercules is the current production model of the legendary C-130 Hercules aircraft.