As the Marine Corps' Deputy Commandant for Aviation, Lt. Gen. John G. Castellaw faces the challenge of managing an extensive modernization plan while fielding air units in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Marine Corps aviation is experiencing its highest operational tempo in decades, with one-third of its aviation forces deployed at any given time. With the pressures of war and modernization, Castellaw — an enthusiastic advocate of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) and MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft — has been careful not to allow his force to be hollowed out in the face of an aging aircraft inventory, and is exercising a patient, measured approach to replacing some systems, including old electronic warfare aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles (LJAVs). He has placed modern Litening electro-optical targeting pods on more classes of aircraft, and is assessing a variety of UAVs for the Corps, including the Army's Shadow and Navy Fire Scout, which might fulfill some Marine requirements on an interim basis.
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