US Marine Corps does not have enough pilots to fly the F-35B

US Marine Corps does not have enough pilots to fly the F-35B

By Dario Leone
Apr 1 2020
Share this article

USMC Commandant Gen. David Berger has warned that his service does not have enough pilots to fly the F-35B.

US Marine Corps (USMC) Commandant Gen. David Berger has warned that his service does not have enough pilots to fly the F-35B.

Berger made the revelation in the “Force Design 2030”, a 10-year force outlook plan.

“Our continued inability to build and sustain an adequate inventory of F-35 pilots leads me to conclude that we must be pragmatic regarding our ability to support,” Berger was quoted as saying.

As told by Breaking Defense, he calls for an external assessment of the aircraft’s place within the service relative to what he’s being asked to do in the National Defense Strategy and the forthcoming Joint Warfighting Concept, a document the Joint Staff is expected to wrap up later this year.

Besides pilot shortfalls, Berger points out high costs of maintaining and flying the F-35B as factors he’s weighing “in reconciling the growing disparity between numbers of platforms and numbers of aircrew.”

Berger also outlines in the new document that he has had enough of the service’s Abrams tanks. Although the tanks were effective in Iraq’s Anbar province, they would offer little utility on small islands in the Pacific. The USMC said in the document that a series of wargames conducted between 2018 and 2019 proved that the tanks are “operationally unsuitable for our highest-priority challenges in the future.”

US Marine Corps does not have enough pilots to fly the F-35B
This print is available in multiple sizes from AircraftProfilePrints.com – CLICK HERE TO GET YOURS. F-35B Lighning II VMFA-121 Green Knights, VK00, 169164 / 2015

While questioning time-tested and iconic weapons like Abrams tanks, and the massive capabilities that the F-35 can bring, “they’re looking at the totality of the force” said Dakota Wood, senior research fellow for defense programs at The Heritage Foundation. “Berger has been very bold in saying we just can’t afford to have small batches of everything,” so he has set out on a path to bear down on what is most critical to fighting a war in the Pacific against a modern Chinese military

Even if the changes will be seen as early as the fiscal year 2022 budget, slated to drop next February, the new force design is slated to phase in over the next decade.

That gives the USMC months to build their case for reimagining the force, which includes buying new capabilities like mobile rocket artillery and long-range fires while scrapping legacy platforms like heavy- and medium-helicopter squadrons and towed artillery, Breaking Defense says. The plan also calls for eliminating law enforcement units, bridging companies, three infantry battalions, and anti-aircraft units.

General Dynamics, that produces the Abrams, Lockheed Martin, that builds the F-35, as well as the other major prime contractors who build the helicopters and ground vehicles and artillery systems to be tossed over the side and the lawmakers who have plants in their states and districts will certainly have opinions on these moves.

“There’s going to be a lot of pushback by people who aren’t up to speed on these current issues who are reaching back to their own previous references of 10, 20, 30, years ago,” Wood pointed out. “Tanks are awesome in urban warfare environments, but if you haven’t thought about the operating environment the Marine Corps will encounter in the near future, these ideas might be difficult to understand.” 

F-35 Model
This model is available from AirModels! CLICK HERE TO GET YOURS.

Photo credit: U.S. Marine Corps


Share this article

Dario Leone

Dario Leone

Dario Leone is an aviation, defense and military writer. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviation Geek Club” one of the world’s most read military aviation blogs. His writing has appeared in The National Interest and other news media. He has reported from Europe and flown Super Puma and Cougar helicopters with the Swiss Air Force.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Share this article


Share this article
Share this article

Always up to date! News and offers delivered directly to you!

Get the best aviation news, stories and features from The Aviation Geek Club in our newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox.



    Share this article
    Back to top
    My Agile Privacy
    This website uses technical and profiling cookies. Clicking on "Accept" authorises all profiling cookies. Clicking on "Refuse" or the X will refuse all profiling cookies. By clicking on "Customise" you can select which profiling cookies to activate. We and our selected ad partners can store and/or access information on your device, such as cookies, unique identifiers, browsing data. You can always choose the specific purposes related to profiling by accessing the advertising preferences panel, and you can always withdraw your consent at any time by clicking on "Manage consent" at the bottom of the page.

    List of some possible advertising permissions:

    You can consult: our list of advertising partners, the Cookie Policy and the Privacy Policy.
    Warning: some page functionalities could not work due to your privacy choices