Fewer F35s coming to Cherry Point

The Deputy Commandant for Aviation of the Marine Corps told a gathering celebrating a century of Marine aviation in Havelock that fewer F-35B Joint Strike Fighters would be coming to Cherry Point than earlier announced.

Speaking before more than 500 assembled for an annual gala for the Eastern Carolina Aviation Heritage Foundation at the Havelock Tourist and Event Center, Lt. Gen. Terry G. Robling said Cherry Point may receive six or maybe seven squadrons of Joint Strike Fighters beginning in 2021 or 2022.

An Environmental Impact Statement in May 2010 favored eight squadrons of the new Marine Corps jet at Cherry Point beginning in 2020.

Robling pointed to budgetary and economic conditions as well as the needs of the Marine Corps for the changes.

“In the end, we’ll have six squadrons of JSF here at Cherry Point. It could be seven,” he said. “We could have a reserve squadron. We haven’t made that decision yet. We’ll have two reserve squadrons of JSF, hopefully one at either Texas or on the West Coast. What I’d like to do is put one right here, and so obviously that’s a few years down the road. That squadron would probably not even transition until fiscal year ’28. We’ve got quite a ways down the road to work on it.”

Robling also pointed out that economic conditions and Marine Corps needs could change again in the next several years.

The F-35B is a short takeoff and vertical landing jet similar to the AV-8B Harrier it is expected to replace. The jet is designed to also replace Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornets and EA-6B Prowlers. Robling said Cherry Point’s Prowler squadrons would begin to deactivate beginning in 2016 through 2019, with the Navy taking over the electronic warfare mission until the Marine Corps F-35Bs take over.

If that plan is followed, Cherry Point would lose four squadrons of jets before the first F-35B arrives.

Robling pointed out the slow progress of the F-35B when former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates put it on probation last year.

“It went on probation because in 2010 it wasn’t doing very well,” he said. “It was way behind in its test points. It had hardly flown any of its test points. We had five major engineering problems with the aircraft that hadn’t been solved so the Secretary of Defense put it on probation.”

However, current secretary Leon Panetta took the jet off probation earlier this month.

“So all of 2011, we caught up all of 2010’s test points,” Robling said. “We are 100 over the test point we are supposed to have in 2011 and we have engineering fixes for every one of those prior problems and they will begin going into production of those aircraft pretty soon.

“The secretary just recently took it off probation, and we are very happy for him to do that but that doesn’t mean our work is over. We have a lot of work to do on all three versions.”

Robling stressed the importance of the jet, which has critics who cite its projected cost of $150 million and developmental problems and also question its need.

“If you are going to fight a fifth-generation threat, which we have, then you need a fifth generation aircraft to do it,” he said.

Robling said he would not address specifics of the Marine Corps budget but did mention Thursday’s announcement of overall cuts of $489 billion for the entire Defense Department in the next 10 years.

“We took some cuts, but what I can tell you is we have the absolute best, most capable Marine Corps that the nation could afford,” Robling said.

He said the Corps constantly looks at reducing costs, but warned of deep cuts.

“We’re about as penny-pinching an outfit as you can get,” he said. “We’re also very paranoid, but paranoia is good and we’re proud of that and so should you. This is a very tough time for our nation. We just have to make sure that we don’t make cuts so deeply that we become a hollow force.”

Part of Thursday’s announcement included a Base Realignment and Closure process that could happen as early as 2013. Robling said Cherry Point and the Fleet Readiness Center East repair and maintenance facility are important to the military, but offered words of warning.

“Are you in any danger? Yes, you are always in danger,” he said. “When you look at the budgets across the military services, they are always looking at how they can be more efficient. If I were to guess, I would say you are going to be alright, but in every BRAC you could be in trouble.

“Talk to you congressmen. Tell them how important it is to have Cherry Point here. I’ll do the same with the Secretary of Defense and up on Capitol Hill. Gov. (Beverly) Perdue recently wrote a letter to the president talking about how important the JSF aircraft was to our nation and for Cherry Point and how important FRC East was. Those types of letters are very, very useful for both congressmen up on the Hill and for the president and the Secretary of Defense.”