A few days ago, the US Marine Corps (USMC, -> current news about the US Armed Forces) published its Marine Aviation Plan 2025. This clearly shows an increased focus on the “Blue Water Navy”. The consequence of this is a long-term shift: the F-35B (short take-off/vertical landing version) is losing importance in favor of closer integration with the Navy’s carrier squadrons, which are increasingly relying on the F-35C.
In detail, 73 of the manufacturer Lockheed Martin still outstanding F-35B orders from the USMC are to be converted into F-35Cs. This will double the number of operational F-35C squadrons in the USMC to eight – almost on a par with the Navy’s nine carrier squadrons. At the same time, the number of combat-coded F-35B squadrons will drop by a quarter to twelve (excluding training and test units).
Gradual move away from the more expensive and performance-limited F-35B
This shift is set to manifest itself in full from the early 2030s. It will begin with the Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMA-223) “Bulldogs”, which is currently still equipped with AV-8B Harrier IIs and will be converted to F-35Cs in the 2031 financial year. This will be followed by Squadrons 323, 112 and 134, which will directly replace their F/A-18C/D (Legacy Hornet) with the F-35C by mid-2032. Thanks to its larger wing, this variant offers more fuel capacity and a reinforced landing gear for carrier missions.
Between 2032 and 2035, the USMC also plans to increase all combat-coded F-35B squadrons to twelve aircraft each. Each unit will receive two additional jets, two additional pilots and 25 additional maintenance personnel.
With this plan, all combat-coded AV-8B and F/A-18C/D squadrons will be phased out of the Marine Corps fleet. The total number of F-35s procured by the USMC will remain unchanged at 420. Since 2016, the Marine Corps has lost six of these jets – five F-35Bs and one F-35C – to crashes. The number of F-35Bs for the USMC’s smaller amphibious landing craft will be reduced to 280, while internationally four operators have ordered a total of 222 aircraft of this type. Manufacturer Lockheed Martin now expects a total of 413 F-35C orders, 140 for the USMC and 273 for the Navy.
Step was already considered in 2019
The reorientation dates back to 2019, when the then commander General David Berger steered the USMC more strongly back to its “Blue Water” roots. out. Long before Elon Musk’s provocative statement about “idiots who still buy manned fighters”, the concept envisaged a greater role for naval aviation on the Navy’s large aircraft carriers – for which only the F-35C is suitable.
In the short term, however, this change will have little impact on the statistics of the F-35 program. The Joint Program Office (JPO) of the Pentagon and Lockheed Martin calculates the average costs of all three variants together, meaning that the redistribution of orders only has a “marginal overall effect on pricing”.
A spokesperson for the JPO said: “The JPO has worked closely with Marine Aviation on the rebalancing of unit numbers and is already working to implement the updated plan.”
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