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F-35B makes first operational ship deployment

by Andrew McLaughlin
written by Andrew McLaughlin
180305-N-RI844-0327 EAST CHINA SEA (March 5, 2018) An F-35B Lightning II with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 121 touches down on the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1), marking the first time the aircraft has deployed aboard a U.S. Navy ship and with a Marine Expeditionary Unit in the Indo-Pacific. VFMFA-121, assigned under the Okinawa-based 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, will remain embarked aboard Wasp for a regional patrol meant to strengthen regional alliances, provide rapid-response capability, and advance the Up-Gunned ESG concept. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Daniel Barker/Released)

A VMFA-121 F-35B hovers before landing on the USS Wasp. (US Navy)

The US Marine Corps has embarked aboard ship the F-35B short take off and vertical landing (STOVL) version of the Joint Strike Fighter for its first operational employment.

The six F-35Bs of Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA)121 embarked aboard the LHD USS Wasp in the East China Sea on March 5. The Wasp has been deployed to Sasebo in Japan to assume the role of flagship of the Wasp Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) for a Western Pacific patrol, while VMFA-121 deployed to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Japan last year.

“This is a historic deployment,” Col. Tye R. Wallace, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) Commanding Officer said in a March 5 release. “The F-35B is the most capable aircraft ever to support a Marine rifleman on the ground.”

180305-M-GT736-033 EAST CHINA SEA (March 5, 2018) An F-35B Lightning II touches down on the USS Wasp (LHD 1), marking the F-35B’s first operational deployment with a Marine Expeditionary Unit. Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121 is embarked aboard Wasp for the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit’s Spring Patrol 2018. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Bernadette Wildes/Released)

(US Navy)

Retired USMC Lt. Col. David Berke, a former F-35B squadron commander and F-22 exchange pilot told Business Insider; “You’re about to put for the first time ever fifth-generation fighters on a ship at sea and put it into a highly contested area that is fraught with geopolitical risk and controversy and tensions.

“The implications of a fifth-generation aeroplane being in [the Pacific] is impossible to overstate. They’re going to provide capability that nobody knows exists yet.”

The USAF also has a squadron of F-35As currently deployed to Japan, while Japan itself is building its own F-35A capability.

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