Japan's Concerned With MV-22 Osprey's High Accident Rate

Japan's Defense Ministry reported that the rate of serious accidents involving the US Marines' MV-22 Osprey aircraft is at a record high. It was at 3.27 per 100,000 flying hours as of September 2017.  This is the highest since the records started in 2012.

NHK

Singapore Airshow: US Marines F-35 Combat Ready

Lieutenant-General Jon Davis, Deputy Commandant for Aviation,  HQ Marine Corps, declared that the Marines' F-35B are combat ready despite various reports criticising the performance of the troubled aircraft.

“We have developed workarounds to get around any deficiencies we have seen out there. Right now, operating capabilities and advantage we get from this airplane far outweigh any deficiencies.”

“We are operating the airplane, training in the airplane, making us ready to deploy to the Pacific.”

The US Marine Corps will be deploying one of their first F-35B unit to Japan in January 2017. Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan within a year. VFMA-121 “Green Knights,” was declared Full Operationally Capable in August 2015. It is currently operating from Yuma AZ and is scheduled for rotatio to Marine Corps Air StationIwakuni. An initial deployment of pilots alongside 10 aircraft will be relocated first , with another six scheduled for July 2017.

Full-scale mock up of the F-35 Lightning II at the Singapore Airshow 2016

CNA

Bloomberg

US Marine MPC/ ACV Programme Update

The United States has shortlisted two 8x8 armoured vehicles for the next and final phase of the Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV) 1.1 programme.  The shortlisted vehicles are based on the IVECO SuperAV or AV-8 and the ST Kinetics Terrex. The AV-8 is offered by a consortium conprising of British Aerospace Systems (BAE Systems) and IVECO.  The consortium led by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) is building a vehicle based on ST Kinetics’ TERREX. Both consortiums have each been awarded a US$100m contract under the Engineering, Manufacturing, and Development (EMD) phase of the programme. This phase will last two years after which a contract may be awarded for the production of an initial batch of 200 vehicles.



Terrex at Home in the Surf. Image from SAIC Facebook.

The AV-8 has internal capacity for 13 embarked Marines plus a crew of three thus meeting the objective requirement for payload. It is powered by a 6-cylinder, 700HP power pack, which is a significant power increase over the Marine's current Assault Amphibious Vehicle.

The TERREX is in service with the Singapore Army since 2010. The updated TERREX 2 is specially designed for littoral missions. It has a "shark-nose" hydrodynamic hull that keeps the vehicle's forward section above water as it is propelled through surfs at speed of more than 6 knots; in sea state of up to Sea State 4 (where waves reach up to 2.5 metres). The V-shaped bottom provides stability in the water as well as enhanced mine protection. The TERREX is powered by a 600HP power pack and has capacity for 2 crew and 12 Marines.

BAE

The Straits Times

US Marines Corp