Aug. 11 (UPI) — The U.S. Marine Corps announced today that it will undergo a 24-hour stand down of all its aircraft within the next two weeks in response to several incidents as part of an operational reset.
Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller has ordered the pause so aviation units can review safety regulations.
“The intent is for flying squadrons to review selected incidents which occurred enterprise-wide and study historical examples of completed investigations in order to bring awareness and best practices to the fleet,” the Marine Corps said in a press release.
The Marine Corps says that active operations will not be affected, and that commanders will have discretion over when to do the pause over the next two weeks.
The aim is for commanders and flying squadrons to review selected incidents, study previous investigations and review safety, standardization and combat readiness fundamentals.
There have been two deadly plane crashes involving Marines in the last two months, with both still under investigation.
Three Marines were killed when their MV-22 Osprey crashed off the coast of Australia on August 9 during military exercises.
On July 10, 15 Marines and a sailor were also killed when a KC-130 cargo tanker went down, with the loss of everyone on board the aircraft. All 12 of the Marine Corps Reserve’s KC-130’s have been grounded pending results of the investigation.
The operational reset is the first time since August 2016 the Marine Corps has ordered a service-wide pause since five F/A-18s crashed within three months of each other, resulting in two fatalities.
