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Marine Jets: The Good, Bad, and Ugly.

STOVLer

Well-Known Member
pilot
We are getting more flight time than hornet and F-35 guys right now

Not sure how recent your reasoning is for that, but that is not currently accurate for the 10 months since IOC.
 

kteigenw

New Member
Anyone to comment on the recent fox news story on the depressingly low monthly flight hours in the F18? Are Marine Hornet drivers really only getting 4 hours a month? And is it going to get any better?
 

phrogdriver

More humble than you would understand
pilot
Super Moderator
This was done before with the stand-up of the first two F-14 squadrons, with all the predictable results that you describe. I was a JG Coffee Mess Officer in my first F-4 squadron (on my second cruise) and was asked by my "opposite number" in VF-1 to get their wooden F-14 models from the vendor in Olongapo because they had to leave port early for something. He was a LCDR Coffee Mess Officer.

Same deal in V-22 squadrons. Either this is a necessary cost of doing business, or we just never learn.
 

pourts

former Marine F/A-18 pilot & FAC, current MBA stud
pilot
Yes, the Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps for Aviation is giving true and accurate testimony to the Senate Armed Services Community. Yes, for the most part the stuff you saw on Fox news is accurate.

Sounds to me like its time to throttle back on UDP's. Sell more JSFs (or Rhinos or whatever) to Japan and let them cover their own ass/ deal with DPRK.
 

Treetop Flyer

Well-Known Member
pilot
Yes, the Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps for Aviation is giving true and accurate testimony to the Senate Armed Services Community. Yes, for the most part the stuff you saw on Fox news is accurate.

Sounds to me like its time to throttle back on UDP's. Sell more JSFs (or Rhinos or whatever) to Japan and let them cover their own ass/ deal with DPRK.
That doesn't sound very EXPEDITIONARY. We MUST continue the deployment cycle. Twenty broken hornets and six harriers are the only thing keeping us from losing the war in Guam.
 

Hair Warrior

Well-Known Member
Contributor
Two days ago in FL, I saw an F-35B fly around, hover, then resume flying around. It was damn cool. Got a photo of it, too.
 

Randy Daytona

Cold War Relic
pilot
Super Moderator
From Defense One. http://www.defenseone.com/ideas/201...ilitary-readiness/127709/?oref=d-channelriver

A major part of the problem is that Congress routinely starves readiness to pay for its pet projects. One need look no further than the budgetary sleight-of-hand being proposed by Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, who chairs the House Armed Services Committee. He and other committee members want to move $18 billion from the war budget to the Pentagon’s base budget. This would not change the 2017 top line, but it would withdraw billions of dollars from the operations and maintenance budget – the place where readiness funds reside — to pay for weapons and activities the Pentagon hasn’t even asked for. Included on the list are 11 additional F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, 14 F/A-18E/F combat aircraft and 27,000 additional active duty military personnel.
 

MIDNJAC

is clara ship
pilot
To be fair, having some additional aircraft would also benefit the operations and training side of the house, though more indirectly and years down the road. But it isn't completely useless IMHO. Part of the maintenance problem is simply having too many old, or overused/high hour aircraft in the inventory.
 

nittany03

Recovering NFO. Herder of Programmers.
pilot
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
A major part of the problem is that Congress routinely starves readiness to pay for its pet projects. One need look no further than the budgetary sleight-of-hand being proposed by Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, who chairs the House Armed Services Committee. He and other committee members want to move $18 billion from the war budget to the Pentagon’s base budget. This would not change the 2017 top line, but it would withdraw billions of dollars from the operations and maintenance budget – the place where readiness funds reside — to pay for weapons and activities the Pentagon hasn’t even asked for. Included on the list are 11 additional F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, 14 F/A-18E/F combat aircraft and 27,000 additional active duty military personnel.
But God forbid anyone in acquisitions mixes pots of money, or it's off to jail for you.
 
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