USMC F-35Bs refine expeditionary training in Australia
Twelve F-35Bs, flown by a composite unit made up of VFMA-121 and VFMA-124, participated in Pitch Black 2022. (Photo: Roy Choo)
The USMC conducted distributed operations with F-35B fighters during an exercise in Australia, which saw a base functioning as a hub and another as a spoke.
USMC F-35Bs from Marine Aircraft Group 12 (MAG-12) conducted Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO) training in Australia before participating in Exercise Pitch Black 2022 in mid-August.
Six of 12 F-35Bs deployed from MCAS Iwakuni to RAAF Base Tindal for the multinational exercise took part in the EABO training at RAAF Base Curtin in Western Australia.
The USMC’s EABO concept emphasises the employment of mobile, distributed, low-signature and easily sustained forces from austere locations to support a larger naval campaign.
The hub-and-spoke notion of EABO – which envisages rapid dispersion of aircraft from major bases to several smaller distributed bases
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