Lightning Carriers: The Marines’ secret weapon in the Pacific

Lightning Carriers: The Marines’ secret weapon in the Pacific

As the U.S. military prepares for the possibility of a conflict in the Pacific, the Navy and Marine Corps are working on a new way to project airpower, and they’re calling it the Lightning Carrier. The concept, which the Corps began testing in 2016, turns amphibious assault ships, like the Navy’s America-class USS America, which is both easy to remember and ultra patriotic in a “Team America” kind of way, into small, agile flat-top carriers bris…