Gen. Jon Davis

Air Warfare

Mattis Review Only Looks At F-35C Vs. Super Hornet; F-35 Cost Study Separate

WASHINGTON: Of the three variants of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, only the carrier-launched F-35C is at risk of being replaced by Boeing’s F-18 Super Hornet, the Marine Corps’s top pilot said today. It’s not on the table to substitute Hornets for either the land-based F-35A variant or the vertical-takeoff-and-landing F-35B, Lt. Gen. Jon Davis, deputy Commandant for […]

Air Warfare

Davis: Marines Want VTOL Drone Before FVL

AUVSI: There’s money in the 2018 budget to develop a new sea-based, armed vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) drone the size of the Air Force’s MQ-9 Reaper, Marine Corps deputy commandant for aviation, Lt. Gen. Jon “Dog” Davis, says. Davis expects to see them in the inventory well before the Army-led Future Vertical Lift program produces new […]

Air Warfare

Non-Fatal Accidents Double For Marine Corps Aircraft

CAPITOL HILL: The rate of non-fatal accidents has doubled in Marine Corps aviation since last year, and the Marines are turning to outside experts to figure out why. So-called Class C mishap rates — nonfatal incidents that cause $50,000 to $500,000 in damage or loss of work time — have occurred in 2016 at double their previous […]

Air Warfare

Marines Are Flying Only 60% of F-18 Hornets They Need

CAPITOL HILL: Chronic maintenance problems with the aging F-18 Hornet are hobbling the Marines, leaving them with less than 60 percent of the strike fighters they need to conduct training and operations, the deputy commandant for aviation told the Senate this afternoon. “I pulled up our readiness data just yesterday,” Lt. Gen. Jon Davis told the seapower subcommittee […]

Air Warfare

F-35As And F-35Bs Will Fly At Farnborough, RIAT

It should surprise no one, but the US Marine Corps, the US Air Force and the British will fly F-35s at both the Royal International Air Tattoo and the Farnborough Air Show this summer. “The U.S. Marine Corps is looking forward to demonstrating the capabilities of the F-35B Lightning II in the skies over the […]