Top Stories 2016: U.S. Marine Corps Operations
By: Megan Eckstein
December 26, 2016 8:58 AM
USNI News polled its writers, naval analysts and service members on what they consider the most important military and maritime stories in 2016.
2016 was a year of transition for the Marine Corps, with a new operational concept and several follow-up warfighting concepts released and with the operational F-35B Joint Strike Fighter fleet preparing for its first overseas operations in 2017. Overseas operations in the Middle East, Pacific and even in the Caribbean kept the force busy, while leaders at home continued to work their way out of an ongoing aviation readiness crisis.
F-35B
A F-35B, assigned to the Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121 out of Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona, flies level as a F-16 Fighting Falcon from the 177th Fighter Squadron from the New Jersey Air National Guard, banks hard during approach July 15, 2016 at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. US Air Force Photo
A F-35B, assigned to the Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121 out of Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona, flies level as a F-16 Fighting Falcon from the 177th Fighter Squadron from the New Jersey Air National Guard, banks hard during approach July 15, 2016 at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. US Air Force Photo
After declaring initial operational capability for the F-35B in 2015, the Marine Corps spent 2016 integrating the new plane with its amphibious ships, standing up a second operational squadron and maturing the tactics, techniques and procedures ahead of a 2017 move to Japan.
https://news.usni.org/2016/12/26/top-stories-2016-u-s-marine-corps-operations#more-23020
