HMS Prince of Wales Homecoming Publication

Lieutenant General Steven R Rudder, Deputy Commandant of United States Marine Corps Aviation, highlights the significance of the USMC F-35B participation in HMS Queen Elizabeth’s maiden operational deployment in 2021 – Carrier Strike Group 21 (CSG21). Simon Michell reports.

he United States Marine Corps (USMC) has a longstanding history with the United Kingdom’s (UK’s) progression with the F-35B Lightning fast jet. Pilots from the UK Royal Air Force (RAF) and Royal Navy (RN) trained alongside Marines in MCAS Beaufort in South Carolina as part of the Corps’ F-35B training squadron, VMFAT-501. According to the Deputy Commandant of USMC Aviation, Lt Gen Steven R Rudder, ‘The UK has made tremendous strides with the F-35B, quickly standing up their own F-35B squadron (617 Squadron) and preparing for the first deployment of HMS Queen Elizabeth’. He continues, ‘The Queen Elizabeth Class (QEC) of carriers was designed around the F-35. As a result, its ship-aircraft integration is remarkable. We look forward to achieving a high level of interoperability with such a significant ally’.

The deployment of US F-35B aircraft aboard HMS Queen Elizabeth for her maiden operational deployment in 2021 – Carrier Strike Group 21 (CSG21) – represents a major milestone for the programme, and marks a tremendous highpoint in the progression of maritime interoperability with the UK. Rudder points out that there has been a great deal of thought put into aligning the UK and Marine Corps pre-deployment training objectives and plans, and he firmly believes that this will help to embed a high degree of interoperability by aligning operational efforts during the deployment.

Before the maiden deployment there will be a further opportunity to train together, this time in British waters, as Rudder reveals: ‘The Pre-deployment Training Program (PTP) for CSG21 will take place in UK waters between the Fall of 2020 and Spring of 2021. This intensive period of activity will culminate in a certification exercise prior to the deployment. Integrating Marine F-35Bs and UK F-35Bs aboard HMS Queen Elizabeth for CSG21 will mark a tremendous milestone in the progression of maritime interoperability with the UK’.

As for the USMC contribution to the deployment, the General is naturally cautious about disclosing too many details, ‘Due to operational security concerns, we do not release approximate numbers for deploying units’. That said, he puts this into context by explaining, ‘The Marine Corps plans to support the CSG21 deployment with an F-35B detachment, which is traditionally smaller than a squadron’. He is equally reticent about the timelines, saying only, ‘The only information available for the deployment timeline is that the Marine F-35B detachment will be deployed for approximately six months’.

Although US assets and personnel will be deployed on the new aircraft carrier, the deployment itself is a wholly British sovereign activity, meaning that the USMC aircraft will not undertake any US-centric missions. Rudder confirms, ‘There are no unique Marine Corps activities. The Marine Corps is contributing an F-35B detachment for CSG21 on this sovereign UK deployment’. And, when the CSG21 deployment does eventually take place, it will be an extraordinary reinforcement of the close relationship that the F-35B and QEC warships will have established between two of the world’s most interoperable nations.

Lt Gen Steven R Rudder, deputy commandant of United States Marine Corps Aviation.

UMC Photo

USMC F-35B Lightning fast jets will deploy on HMS Queen Elizabeth’s maiden operational deployment, underlining the highest level of interoperability between two nations.

USMC Photo by Sgt. Charles Plouffe