Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. James Amos, Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford and Lt. Col. Fred Schenk and Lt. Col. Matt Kelly of the F-35 Integrated Test Force inspecting a F-35B test aircraft on December 17, 2010. Earlier that week with reporters, Gen. Amos said, “The programmatic health of the STOVL variant of the F-35 is a matter of great national interest. Right now, we have 11 aircraft carriers and 11 “big deck” amphibious ships – so our nation effectively has 22 carrier-type capital ships to do our nation’s bidding. We need to put fifth generation aircraft on all 22 of those ships if we are to maintain operational flexibility for the National Command Authority and the Combatant Commander.”

Source: NAVAIR press release

Photo courtesy Lockheed Martin.