[Epoch Times August 17, 2021](Epoch Times reporter Xia Yu comprehensive report) The U.S. Marine Corps is forming a small force composed of F-35C stealth fighters to carry out strike missions in the Western Pacific. The target is Chinese Communist Party.
The Pentagon is looking for new methods of warfare in the South China Sea and the Philippine Sea. In this area, the air bases of the United States and allies are few and far apart, and their flight operations are threatened by the Chinese Communists.
The Marine Corps plans to overcome this limitation by extending the flight distance of the F-35C fighter. Pilots are training to perform combat missions through the enemy’s air defense system, throwing “Joint Standoff Weapon” (JSOW) glide bombs at the enemy and be able to return after the battle.
The F-35C expeditionary strike team will be deployed to the USS Lincoln next year
Forbes News recently reported that Mark Dion was a major of the Marine Fighter-Attack Squadron 314. He was the first batch of pilots in the US Marine Corps to receive long-range stealth strike training. One of them. “Through the F-35C, we proved that we can carry out expeditionary operations and still carry larger warheads, including JSOW, with this kind of deep strike capability.” Dion said.
The Marine Corps plans to convert 22 squadrons into F-35 fighter squadrons, each with about 10 aircraft. But most units will fly F-35Bs that land vertically. Compared with other F-35 models, F-35B has a heavy lift fan, which is heavier and has a smaller internal space.
The F-35C fighter has a large wing and sturdy landing gear, which can take off and land from a US Navy aircraft carrier. Compared with the F-35B, the F-35C carries 7,000 pounds more fuel and has a larger weapon bay.
The cabin of the F-35B is large enough to hold a 1,000-pound weapon. In contrast, the F-35C can carry 2,000 pounds of ammunition, including the JSOW gliding bomb.
The extra range and capacity make the F-35C the best expeditionary attack aircraft in the Marine Corps, enhancing the role of deep strikes. The 314th Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA-314), the first F-35C squadron of the US Marine Corps, plans to deploy to the Pacific for the first time next year, and will be deployed with the 9th Carrier Aircraft Wing on the USS Abraham Lincoln.
The Marine Corps F-35C fighter will take off from an aircraft carrier, which will sail in the relatively safe East Philippine Sea or other waters away from the CCP’s land-based missiles.
The F-35C will be an expeditionary strike fighter for the Lincoln aircraft carrier. With the support of aerial refueling, F-35C fighters can penetrate enemy air defense systems and strike ground supply and command facilities within thousands of miles from the aircraft carrier.
Expeditionary strike is critical to the refueling support of F-35C fighters
There is a weakness in this plan and it needs to rely on logistics-especially aerial refueling. But in wartime, tankers will become the main target of enemy long-range fighters.
Each F-35C is loaded with a pair of JSOW and a pair of AIM-120 air-to-air missiles with a range of 70 miles in the inner cabin, and then flies west. Aerial refueling machines—maybe the Marine Corps KC-130 or the U.S. Air Force KC-135—refuel the F-35 every few hundred miles.
A crude base on land is also an option. The U.S. military has been developing a new concept for quickly establishing small outposts within the range of the Chinese Communist Party’s missiles. These rough bases may not be enough for a squadron to stay for a long time, but they can be used as a gas station for past fighters.
With the help of the combination of aerial tankers and rudimentary bases, F-35C will use the gaps covered by the CCP’s radar to avoid the most dangerous air defense systems. If CCP fighters participate in combat, F-35 can use AIM-120 to counterattack.
“All pilots have received training for important tasks.” Dion said of F-35C pilots.
F-35 will drop JSOW and turn around. They can refuel and re-arm at the island outposts, then return to combat, or fly all the way back to the aircraft carrier.
Marine Corps test
How far can such expeditionary strikes fly? As part of the deployment in 2022, the 314th Marine Corps Fighter Strike Squadron (VMFA-314) has been testing the flight distance limit. During an exercise in July, the squadron sent F-35Cs from Miramar Marine Corps Air Station to Washington State, flying more than a thousand miles.
The Marine Corps KC-130 refueled fighter jets in the air; the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft helped establish a simple refueling station on the ground.
Another planned exercise, VMFA-314, was cancelled due to scheduling issues. The training was originally to test the F-35C with a one-way flight of 2,600 miles from California to Hawaii for simulated deep strikes.
In April this year, when four Air Force F-16s flew from Japan to the South China Sea, four KC-135s provided them with refueling services, 3,600 miles round-trip.
If the F-35C is 5,200 miles back and forth, it may require as many tankers as possible. It is not difficult to imagine that for long-range air combat in the Western Pacific, fighters taking off from aircraft carriers or land bases require as many tankers as the number of fighters.
Editor in charge: Li Huanyu#
.