The Marine Corps plans to double its buy of the carrier-borne F-35C variant and scale back its buy of the short-takeoff-vertical-landing F-35B, according to a new aviation plan from the service.
The service’s total F-35 buy of 420 aircraft remains unchanged, but the service will now buy 280 F-35Bs instead of the planned 353 jets, and 140 F-35Cs instead of the planned 67 jets, according to the 2025 Marine Aviation Plan released Monday. This means the Marines will field 12 F-35B squadrons and eight F-35C squadrons. Notably, the plan also expands the size of F-35 squadrons from 10 to 12 fighters.
In a statement, Lockheed Martin said, “We support the U.S. Marine Corps’ decision to adjust to an F-35 fleet configuration that best allows them to fulfill their critical missions with the world’s most advanced aircraft.”
The decision to buy more F-35Cs suggests a “greater prioritization of carrier-based operations”, and a desire to fast-track the integration of the jets with forces in the Indo-Pacific region, said Jon Hemler, a military aerospace analyst with Forecast International.
But there were a few surprises in the plan, said Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The plan calls for no cuts to overall F-35 purchases, even though former Commandant Gen. David Berger signaled that the aircraft’s cost and vulnerabilities might make it a poor fit for Force Design 2030, Cancian said.
The plan also lacks any expansion of plans to buy unmanned aerial vehicles, Cancian said.
“At one time, the Marine Corps was saying that 40 percent of its aircraft would be uncrewed. Whereas the Army has about 200 MQ-9s, the Air Force about 250, while the Marine Corps has only 18,” he noted.
The document, which is the service’s first public update to its aviation plans in three years, details an effort called “Project Eagle”—a “strategic path” for Marine aviation over the next 15 years.
“Our strategy, Project Eagle, marks Marine Aviation’s future path requiring a focus on sustaining and enhancing the aviation capabilities the Marine Corps trusts and relies on. As multiple platforms transition, we will continue to modernize our fixed, rotary, and unmanned fleets to deliver the sustained reach and lethality combatant commanders need,” deputy commandant for aviation Lt. Gen. Bradford Gering said in the document.
