The Marine Corps is making progress to improve its aviation readiness issues, the commandant of the service said Wednesday following an F/A-18 Hornet crash off the coast of Japan.
The incident is the sixth Marine Hornet crash this year, and the fourth since Oct. 25.
“It’s higher than it was, but it’s not completely statistically off the wall. That doesn’t mean that it’s good news,” Gen. Robert Neller told reporters following his remarks at the U.S. Naval Institute’s 2016 Defense Forum.
Neller said there is no indication yet of what happened in the crash and that the search for the pilot is ongoing.
The service is making progress in tangible ways, Neller said, including a four-hour increase in flying hours on every model type series over the past year. But Neller said the plan the service put in place to prioritize maintenance and boost flying hours is not moving fast enough.
“Is it where we want to be? No,” he said. “But we’re in a pretty tough place and we have a plan and our plan is happening, but it’s not happening fast enough.”
The plan to increase maintenance on aircraft in the depot will continue under a continuing resolution, since that was part of the service’s budget in fiscal 2016. But the program to increase flight hours could be impacted by the lack of a full-year budget on Capitol Hill.
“Having a long-term budget clearly is better than having a CR,” he said.
