A Glimpse At How the F-35 Will Help the Marines Storm the Beach
By Patrick Tucker Read bio
November 29, 2016
In a California demonstration, the short-takeoff fighters escorted troop-carrying V-22s into simulated hostile territory.
Earlier this month, six F-35B Joint Strike Fighters took off from the deck of USS America, a Navy amphibious assault ship off San Diego, California. Four of the Marine Corps aircraft attacked a simulated integrated air defense system on San Clemente Island, while the other two escorted a pair of Boeing V-22 Ospreys that simulated landing Marines on an enemy beach. The Nov. 20 demonstration was a unique “proof of concept” strike/assault support escort mission that also included a Bell UH-1Y Venom helicopter, a Bell AH-1Z Viper, and a Sikorsky MH-60S helicopter. This was a test of the so-called “Lightning Carrier” concept, an aircraft carrier loaded with F-35s and Ospreys. The goal: to show how the Marines would use the F-35B during the first, critical stages of expeditionary fighting, perhaps at the start of a major conflict.
http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2016/11/glimpse-how-f-35-will-help-marines-storm-beach/133500/?oref=d-mostread
