USMC will activate second adversary aircraft squadron
The United States Marine Corps (USMC) plans to activate a second adversary aircraft squadron in 2023 to meet the future aerial combat training needs of the USMC fighter attack squadrons. The new squadron, Marine Fighter Training Squadron (VMFT) 402, will provide the East Coast with similar training assets as the West Coast.
According to the FY2022 Marine Corps Aviation Plan (MCAP), the new unit will be activated in fiscal year 2023 at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort (SC) and will reach Initial Operational Capability (IOC) by the beginning of 2024. The other adversary aircraft squadron, Marine Fighter Training Squadron (VMFT) 401 Snipers ('LS-xx'), operates eleven single seat Northrop F-5N and one F-5F Tiger II fighters at Yuma MCAS (AZ). The unit is upgrading to the F-5N+ and F-5F+ in the coming period.
VMFT-402 will initially be equipped with three F-5N+ Tiger II fighters, but eventually will operate eight F-5N+ and two F-5F+ aircraft. The Tigers will be delivered over a four-year period beginning in the fourth quarter of 2023.
The US Navy and USMC F-5 fleet is going through upgrades to increase capabilities and extend the service life. The fleet is being upgraded with digital cockpits at a rate of two or three aircraft per year. The Naval Air Systems Command plans to integrate TCTS II Tactical Combat Training System – Increment II (TCTS II) to “allow synthetic adversary injects to decrease the forecasted gap in adversary training.”
The MCAP mentions that “Adversary capacity is the greatest issue in USMC air-to-air training, followed closely by range availability and modernisation, and training simulator capabilities.
VMFT-401 can source up to 3,300 sorties per year, restrained by aircraft utilisation and numbers of F-5s assigned. Combining air-to-air (A/A) requirements for fleet training, Fleet Replacement Squadron (FRS) production and weapon school support, the USMC builds an adversary requirement of nearly 15,000 sorties in 2022. Accordingly, the USMC suffers over an 11,000-sortie capacity gap. The USMC are looking at options to close this gap.”
In January 2021, Scramble Magazine wrote on the Avionics Reconfiguration and Tactical Enhancement/Modernization for Inventory Standardization (ARTEMIS) programme. This US Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) programme requires aircraft retrofit installations to be performed on the F-5E and F-5F Tiger IIs and include both the airframes and their J85-21 engines. The first delivery of an ARTEMIS upgraded Tiger II is expected in Q4 of 2022. After upgrade, the Tigers will be designated as F-5N+ and F-5F+.
In March 2021, Scramble Magazine published an update on the programme of former Schweizer Luftwaffe (Swiss Air Force) Tiger IIs involved in the programe. In September 2021, the first ARTEMIS F-5N+ arrived at NAS Patuxent River (MD) for ground and flight testing.
Photo by Lucien Blok and Otger van der Kooij (both Scramble Archive)