Marine Corps Times: Fighter Squadrons Don't have Enough Working AircraftHOUSE DEFENSE BILL BEGINS TO TURN AROUND READINESS CRISIS
Washington, DC,
May 3, 2016
WASHINGTON-- As the House Armed Services Committee met to consider the FY17 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Marine Corps Times published a compelling report detailing the tremendous stress on Marine Corps Aviation. As the story below illustrates, extended repairs and repeated deployments leave too few aircraft available to train Marine Aviators, resulting in a force that is less prepared to fight. The House Armed Services Committee takes this readiness crisis seriously. In the FY17 NDAA, the HASC reinstates funding requested by the Marines - cut by the President - to begin to restore the readiness of the force. Those include:
As the House Armed Services Committee met to consider the FY17 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Marine Corps Times published a compelling report detailing the tremendous stress on Marine Corps Aviation. As the story below illustrates, extended repairs and repeated deployments leave too few aircraft available to train Marine Aviators, resulting in a force that is less prepared to fight. The House Armed Services Committee takes this readiness crisis seriously. In the FY17 NDAA, the HASC reinstates funding requested by the Marines - cut by the President - to begin to restore the readiness of the force. Those include: Increasing Marine Corps end strength by 3,000 Marines to help address shortfalls in critical skill sets; Fully funding the military pay raise to help incentivize Marines to stay in the Corps; Increased funding to restore and maintain Marine Corps facilities; Adding $43 Million to Marine Corps Logistics accounts; Restoring two V-22 Ospreys cut by the President, to alleviate stress on a high-demand asset; Adding $530 million to Navy Ship and Aircraft Depot accounts to facilitate the repair of Marine Corps aircraft; Adding 14 F-18 E/F models for the Navy, allowing the Navy to transfer F-18s with lower flight hours to the Marine Corps; Adding four F-35 aircraft to replace F-18s too old and worn out to be repaired.
Most of the Marine Corps’ 276 F/A-18 Hornets are deployed, being used for training or in need of repair, the service's top aviator told lawmakers on Wednesday. There aren't a lot of Hornets left in reserve for Marines to "train with during the day," Lt. Gen. Jon Davis Davis, deputy commandant for aviation, told the Senate Armed Services Seapower Subcommittee. “That leads to low flight time and short training progression," he said. "...We get them airplanes at the very last bit, right before they deploy and then they work up their readiness — but the bench is not ready to go.” ... Cuts to the wartime budget along with the Marine Corps’ operations and maintenance funding have further reduced the number of aircraft that are mission ready, Davis added. “From 2011 to 2013, the numbers of airplanes I had on the bench reduced by 35; and from 2013 to 2015, it was reduced by a further 76,” he said. Some F/A-18s are not flight-worthy due to a lack of spare parts, but the problem is much more pronounced for MV-22B Ospreys and CH-53E heavy-lift helicopters. On Jan. 14, two CH-53E Super Stallions from Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 463 crashed off Oahu, killing 12 Marines, prompting questions from Senators about whether budget cuts have put Marines’ lives at risk. The Marine Corps is looking into whether lower readiness rates have led to an increase in aircraft mishaps, Assistant Commandant Gen. John Paxton told members of Congress in March. |