Latest news with #Gering
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
With new jets, Marines need new weapons for future fights
The Marines are closing in on their goal of having a full, fifth-generation fighter jet fleet. However, those new jets are still equipped with 1980s-era weapons technology. That's an area Marine aviation leaders such as Lt. Gen. Bradford Gering, deputy commandant for aviation, and Col. Derek Brannon, director of the Cunningham Group, are looking to industry for help. 'We are killers, at the root, we are Marines,' Brannon told the audience at the Modern Day Marine military exposition in Washington on Wednesday. Alongside upgraded weapons and munitions options for the Corps' growing fleet of F-35B and F-35C fighter jets, the two aviation leaders also noted recent lessons learned for distributed air operations. Here's what Marine aviation has in store for the next five years A West Coast-based exercise called upon entities across the Marine Corps to work out how distributed aviation operations would work in that theater. The next tabletop exercise is slated for Europe in the coming year. Some of the key lessons learned are a need for more virtual and live training options, decision-centric aviation operations driven by data using large language models to work out scenarios, better plans for communication and power generation and timing and controlling the tempo of the need for camouflage, cover and concealment. Artificial intelligence and machine learning will play a crucial role in those next steps. 'We're pursuing those really hard right now because it's all about data,' Gering said. The three-star provided an example of using such tools for predicting aircraft component failures and adjusting supplies to fit accordingly. 'What you can do then is make decisions with that aircraft,' Gering said of employing various platforms. The same moves are key for what aviation units will take with them. By understanding the full picture of maintenance and supplies, units can know what to pack and potentially take less, leaving a smaller footprint, he said. On the jet side of aviation, the Marines expect to complete purchasing 95 of the KC-130J cargo planes over the next five years. Eleven squadrons — two training and nine operational — now fly the F-35 Lightning II jet, a fifth-generation fighter. The Corps will build another seven active-duty squadrons over the next five years, which will be supplemented by two Marine Reserve squadrons. Once completed, there will be 18 active squadrons, a dozen flying the F-35B and six flying the F-35C. The two Reserve squadrons will fly the C variant, which is built for aircraft carrier takeoff and landing. The B variant can conduct vertical takeoff and landing. The AV-8 Harrier jet will sunset this year, Bannon said. The F/A-18 Hornet will sunset in the next five years.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
What Marine Corps aviation has in store over the next five years
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – Over the next five years Marine aviators should see more F-35s, an upgraded MV-22 Osprey fleet, a larger fleet of cargo aircraft and data-enabled predictive aircraft maintenance. That's the vision Deputy Commandant for Aviation Lt. Gen. Bradford Gering shared Tuesday at the Navy League's annual Sea-Air-Space Exposition. 'So, what does modernization look like in the Marine Corps? It's an all-fifth-gen tactical air force of F-35s augmented by collaborative combat aircraft,' Gering said. 'It's a full fleet of CH-53K helicopters for the heavy lift mission.' Gering added that the MV-22 program will have finished its platform midlife upgrades over the remainder of the next five-year budget cycle. AI, advanced tech central to new Marine Corps aviation plan Also involved in the Corps' aviation wing will be its drone fleet of MQ-9 Reapers, which are flying today. Those will eventually see major payload and sensor upgrades, Gering said. On the larger side of the aviation equation, the Corps expects to complete purchasing of the 95 total KC-130J cargo planes it needs for its transport fleet. Two training squadrons and nine operational squadrons are now flying the F-35 Lightning II jet, a fifth-generation fighter. Over the next five years the Corps will build another seven active duty squadrons, which will be supplemented by two Reserve squadrons. At the end of the F-35 transition there will be 18 active squadrons, a dozen flying the F-35B and six flying the F-35C. The two Reserve squadrons will fly the C variant, which is built for aircraft carrier takeoff and landing. The B variant can conduct vertical takeoff and landing. Gering said the Corps also wants to be able to maintain and close kill webs and all enemy air assets through an airborne command and control and an 'aviation ground support structure that is scalable and can conduct expeditionary operations and work in a distributed aviation environment.' In its aviation plan, released in January, the Corps provided more details on its airborne assets. The Marines shifted their F-35 plans to buy more carrier-based F-35Cs and fewer short takeoff and vertical landing F-35Bs. The total number of Joint Strike Fighters the service plans to buy remains 420. The Corps will eventually fly 280 F-35Bs and 140 F-35Cs, more than doubling the number of F-35Cs included in the 2022 plan, which called for 353 F-35Bs and 67 F-35Cs.
