This represents the largest assembly of deployed US naval F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters to date.
Taken on Jan. 22, 2022, the photos in this post feature aircraft assigned to Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 2 and CVW 9 flying over a formation consisting of USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) JS Hyuga (DDH 181), USS America (LHA 6), USS Essex (LHD 2), USS Spruance (DDG 111), USS Chafee (DDG 90), USS Gridley (DDG 101), and USS Mobile Bay (CG 53) and USS Lake Champlain (CG 57) while transiting the Philippine Sea.
Operating as part of the US Pacific Fleet, units assigned to Carl Vinson and Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Groups, America and Essex Amphibious Ready Groups alongside Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF), are conducting training to preserve and protect a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
Currently, more than two dozen Navy and Marine F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters are operating aboard US Navy ships in the Indo-Pacific, amid heightened tensions between the US and China.
As a US Navy spokesman told USNI News, ten Navy F-35Cs belonging to the “Argonauts” of Strike Fighter Squadron 147 (VFA-147) based at Naval Air Station Lemoore are embarked aboard USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70), while 10 Marine Corps F-35Cs from the “Black Knights” of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 314 (VMFA-314) from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Calif., are aboard USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72).
Moreover, a Marine Corps spokesman confirmed to USNI News that meanwhile, six Marine F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing variant aircraft are operating aboard USS America (LHA-6). This makes the total number of naval F-35s operating in the region 26.
This represents the largest assembly of deployed US naval F-35s to date. In 2021, the US and UK deployed 18 F-35Bs aboard the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth (R06).
The massing of fifth-generation American fighter jets in the region comes as the Navy begins deploying its new blended carrier air wing. The Carl Vinson CSG with Carrier Air Wing 2 embarked features the first F-35Cs and CMV-22B Ospreys to deploy together aboard an aircraft carrier.
As we have previously reported, VMFA-314’s deployment on Abraham Lincoln is the first Marine F-35C squadron to deploy on a carrier.
Asked recently how he feels about Marine F-35s on carriers, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said “I’m all for it.”
“We are doing it now. And not only are we doing it now, but we’ve deployed the F-35Bs on the Izumo, which is the Japanese converted destroyer version of their aircraft carrier. And did it very very successfully. And so, this is the way of the future,” Del Toro told the Navy Memorial SITREP speaker series on Jan. 18, 2022, referring to the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s JS Izumo (DDH183).
Lawmakers on the House Armed Services seapower and project forces subcommittee recently cited the potential for China to invade Taiwan within the next five years in making the case for a larger naval fleet with a consistent presence in the Indo-Pacific.
Photo by MC2 Haydn N. Smith, MCSN Larissa T. Dougherty, MCSN Elizabeth Grubbs, MCSA Leon Vonguyen
