U.S. Marines Activate Second F-35C Carrier Based Stealth Fighter Squadron

The U.S. Marine Corps’ second squadron of F-35C fifth generation fighters, Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 311, has achieved an initial operating capability with the new fighters. The Marine Corps is the only service in the U.S. Armed Forces to operate two different variants of the F-35, with the F-35B variant forming the majority of its air units and having specialised short takeoff and vertical landing capabilities to be able to take off from smaller aircraft carriers and makeshift airfields. The F-35C, by contrast, is designed to deploy from the U.S. Navy’s Nimitz and Gerald Ford Class supercarriers, and while requiring less maintenance and being cheaper to operate than the F-35B, its combat potential is significantly greater with a much longer range, larger weapons carrying capacity and greater manoeuvrability. Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 311 notably previously operated the AV-8B Harrier II, an older Cold War era ground attack jet with short takeoff and vertical landing capabilities and a notoriously poor safety record, with the F-35C representing a tremendous boost to the unit’s operational capabilities. 

The U.S. Marines were the first service in the world to declare an initial operating capability for the F-35, with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121 having done so in July 2015 for its newly received F-35Bs. This declaration was widely criticised by experts at the time, with the fighters considered very far from combat ready using Block 2B software, preventing them from using their AIM-9 air to air missiles, GPS bombs, cruise missiles or guns among other key functions. The declaration was concluded in external assessments to have been made largely for public relations purposes.

Although the F-35C was developed primarily for the U.S. Navy to replace its F-18 fleet, the second squadron of the aircraft to gain an initial operating capability capability was in the Marine Corps, which occurred in December 2020. This unit, Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 314, was declared fully operational in July 2021. The commissioning of a second Marine F-35C squadron will allow the Corps to more actively project power overseas, with this development having long been delayed due to major delays with the new stealth fighter’s development, forcing the Marines to keep their Cold War era Harriers and F-18C/Ds in service far longer than initially intended with disastrous consequences for the health of the fleet. Despite the benefits of transitioning to the F-35, particularly from the problematic Harrier, the Marines have consistently complained of qualitative deficiencies with the new aircraft, the availability rates of which have been particularly poor for newly produced aircraft.