Navy

US Marines turned a warship into an F-35 'Lightning carrier' in a test to boost US power

The US Navy sent the USS Wasp into the South China Sea earlier this month loaded with an unusually heavy configuration of Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters.

"We are seeing a fleet experiment going on right now," Jerry Hendrix, a retired Navy captain and naval-affairs expert, told Business Insider, explaining that the Navy and the Marines are experimenting with the "Lightning Carrier" concept.

Light carriers armed with these short landing and take-off F-35s could theoretically take over operations in low-end conflicts, potentially freeing up the "supercarriers" to focus on higher-end threats such as Russia and China, or significantly boost the firepower of the US Navy carrier force, experts told Business Insider.