Category Archives: Aviation

Unmanned Supply Drones, Forward Basing Key to Marines’ New Logistics Plan

Unmanned Supply Drones, Forward Basing Key to Marines’ New Logistics Plan

U.S. Marines with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 262 (Rein.), refuel a CH-53E Super Stallion during a forward arming and refueling point exercise within a combat service support area on Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan, Feb. 9, 2023. US Marine Corps Photo

The Marines have a plan for a fight spread out across wide swaths of the Pacific with small units moving from island to island. Now, the service is working through how it will get bullets, beans and bandages to units spread across thousands of miles. Read More

Pilot Error After ‘Sierra Hotel Break’ Resulted in South China Sea F-35C Crash, Investigation Says

Pilot Error After ‘Sierra Hotel Break’ Resulted in South China Sea F-35C Crash, Investigation Says

An F-35C Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter during a ramp strike aboard USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) on Jan. 24, 2022.

This post has been modified to clarify the recommendations from the investigators.

A 2022 ramp strike aboard the carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) that injured six sailors and resulted in the loss of an F-35C Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter was due to a mistake by the fighter pilot during landing, an investigation into the Jan. 24, 2022 incident determined. Read More

USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: Feb. 21, 2023

USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: Feb. 21, 2023

USNI News Graphic

These are the approximate positions of the U.S. Navy’s deployed carrier strike groups and amphibious ready groups throughout the world as of Feb. 21, 2023, based on Navy and public data. In cases where a CSG or ARG is conducting disaggregated operations, the chart reflects the location of the capital ship. Read More

Marine Corps Needs Infrastructure Investment, Improved Technology to Ensure Readiness

Marine Corps Needs Infrastructure Investment, Improved Technology to Ensure Readiness

U.S. Marines prepare their Rifle Combat Optics before they enter Hathcock Range on Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Jan. 30, 2023. U.S. Marine Corps Photo

SAN DIEGO – A military installation’s sewer lines and electrical grids are critical to a unit’s combat readiness, meaning bases and stations must prepare to grapple with outages, breaks, attacks and other threats to critical infrastructure, a Marine Corps installation commander said last week. Read More

Navy, Coast Guard Wrap Chinese Spy Balloon Recovery off South Carolina

Navy, Coast Guard Wrap Chinese Spy Balloon Recovery off South Carolina

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.– Sailors assigned to Assault Craft Unit 4 prepare material recovered in the Atlantic Ocean from a high-altitude balloon for transport to federal agents at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek Feb. 10, 2023. US Navy Photo

The Navy and Coast Guard have finished collecting the remnants of a Chinese high altitude surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina, U.S. Northern Command announced Friday. Read More

Marines Testing Battlefield Networks for Future Conflicts

Marines Testing Battlefield Networks for Future Conflicts

Marine Sgt. Usbaldo Miranda, Jr., systems configuration coordinator, Marine Air Control Squadron 1, Marine Air Control Group 38, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (MAW), monitors his computer inside an expeditionary command and control (C2) node during a training exercise at Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii, Feb. 7, 2023. US Marine Corps Photo

SAN DIEGO – The success of small Marine Corps units dispersed across far-flung islands in contested terrain will need a better integrated joint operating picture. Read More

PACFLEET CO Paparo Talks Combat Logistics, Chinese Coercion  

PACFLEET CO Paparo Talks Combat Logistics, Chinese Coercion  

Naval Aircrewman (Helicopter) 3rd Class Taquan West, assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 5, keeps watch over the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) and the fast combat support ship USNS Arctic (T-AOE-8) on June 28, 2022. US Navy Photo

SAN DIEGO – The U.S. Navy needs to shed 20 years of how it rearmed and repaired its fleet and prepare for a future of increased risk and contested logistics, the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet said Tuesday. Read More

Navy Wants More Middle East Countries in Unmanned Maritime Awareness Network

Navy Wants More Middle East Countries in Unmanned Maritime Awareness Network

Two Saildrone Explorer unmanned surface vessels and the guided-missile destroyer USS Delbert D. Black (DDG-119) operate in the Arabian Gulf, Jan. 8. US Navy Photo

The commander of the U.S. Navy in the Middle East is pitching more countries in the region to use more unmanned systems to counter criminal activities and possible terrorist and military threats off their coasts, the service’s top officer in Central Command told reporters Monday. Read More