Countering Obsolescence

Sacrifices have always been required by aviation units flying any type, model, series aircraft in order to meet training requirements and keep pace with other DOD aviation forces. Additionally, the force structure of a Marine squadron is modeled primarily after the fire team, squad, platoon, company...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inMarine Corps Gazette Vol. 105; no. 5; pp. 14 - 18
Main Author Belet, Daniel M
Format Trade Publication Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Quantico Marine Corps Association 01.05.2021
Subjects
Aircraft
Aircraft pilots
Aviation
Company structure
Design
Employment
Lethality
Military aviation
Obsolescence
Pilots
Schools
Threats
Weapons
United States > US
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Summary:Sacrifices have always been required by aviation units flying any type, model, series aircraft in order to meet training requirements and keep pace with other DOD aviation forces. Additionally, the force structure of a Marine squadron is modeled primarily after the fire team, squad, platoon, company, and battalion hierarchy typical of Marine Corps infantry units. [...]Marine Corps aviators spend large amounts of time working "ground jobs," essentially jobs that are found within infantry units and required within the infantry force structure design, even by aviation units. If we again approach the quality of a tactical aviator as a product of talent and opportunity, we see that the Marine Corps again falls behind TOPGUN and the Air Force Weapons School in time spent conducting aviation tasks. Additionally, when we reference Gen Berger's Force Design 2030, we are challenged by the fact that in light of unrelenting increases in the range, accuracy, and lethality of modern weapons; the rise of revisionist powers with the technical acumen and economic heft to integrate those weapons and other technologies for direct or indirect confrontation with the United States; and the persistence of rogue regimes possessing enough of those attributes to threaten U.S. interests, I am convinced that the defining attributes of our current force design are no longer what the nation requires of the Marine Corps.
ISSN:0025-3170