Category Archives: Aviation

Large Scale Exercise 2023 Was Custom Built to Push Fleet to the Limit, Say Planners

Large Scale Exercise 2023 Was Custom Built to Push Fleet to the Limit, Say Planners

Airman Steven Wilcoxson, from Visalia, California, pulls a refueling hose aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) in the Atlantic Ocean on June 23, 2023. U.S. Navy Photo

ABOARD AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER – Fresh from a training exercise off the coast of Virginia, the Navy’s second oldest carrier is getting minor repairs while moored at Naval Station Norfolk, Va. But just below the flight deck of USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69), the staff of Carrier Strike Group 2 was fighting a war in Europe. Read More

First Marine Corps MQ-9A Reaper Squadron Now Operational

First Marine Corps MQ-9A Reaper Squadron Now Operational

Marine Corps MQ-9A MUX/MALE is formally unveiled during a ceremony for Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 3 (VMU-3), Marine Aircraft Group 24, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing at Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay, Aug 2, 2023. US Marine Corps Photo

Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 3 (VMU 3) introduced its new Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles in a ceremony at Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, last week. Read More

CO: In Australia, Marine Rotational Force-Darwin is at the ‘Cutting Edge’ of Force Design

CO: In Australia, Marine Rotational Force-Darwin is at the ‘Cutting Edge’ of Force Design

A U.S. Marine with India Co., 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment (Reinforced), Marine Rotational Force – Darwin 23 provides security during Exercise Talisman Sabre 23 at Lakeside Airpark, Queensland, Australia, July 28, 2023. US Marine Corps Photo

What began with 250 American Marines and sailors at Australia’s “Top End” 12 years ago has grown into a Marine air-ground task force of 2,500 that spends its seven-month rotation spread across Australia and the western Pacific. Read More

VIDEO: China Coast Guard Blast Philippine Military Resupply with Water Cannons

VIDEO: China Coast Guard Blast Philippine Military Resupply with Water Cannons

Philippine Military resupply mission was hit with a water canon from a Chinese Coast Guard cutter. Philippine Military Photo

China Coast Guard cutters disrupted an Armed Forces of the Philippines resupply mission to Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands, including instances where they fired water cannons, a Philippines Coast Guard spokesperson said Monday. Read More

USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: Aug. 7, 2023

USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: Aug. 7, 2023

USNI News Photo

These are the approximate positions of the U.S. Navy’s deployed carrier strike groups and amphibious ready groups throughout the world as of Aug. 7, 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

13th MEU Pacific Deployment Expanded Marine F-35 Operations, Tested Contested Logistics, Says CO

13th MEU Pacific Deployment Expanded Marine F-35 Operations, Tested Contested Logistics, Says CO

A Marine Corps F-35B Lighting II pilot with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 122, 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, prepares to land on the amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island (LHD 8), March 31, 2023. US Marine Corps Photo

The 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit’s recently-completed deployment across the Pacific started out with the Marine Corps’ first operational deployment of a full squadron of F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters and closed out with a sinking of an old warship during an exercise in the South China Sea. Read More

Joint Task Force - Red Hill Finishes Defueling Surge Tanks

Joint Task Force – Red Hill Finishes Defueling Surge Tanks

Civilian personnel assigned to Joint Task Force-Red Hill (JTF-RH) secure a fuel pump in preparation for draining the surge tanks at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility (RHBFSF) on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Honolulu, Hawaii, July 25, 2023. US Marine Corps Photos

Joint Task Force – Red Hill finished removing fuel from surge tanks Friday, the task force announced in a Friday news release. Read More