31st MEU | Anti-submarine warfare training...Photos by Cpl. Alora Finigan

The Marine Corps is flailing about looking for missions to justify the MLR. This ain't it and is an insult to the sub hunters doing the exacting work especially during the days of the Soviet Union when nuclear annihilation was on the table. Dropping sonobuoys from a supposedly low density/high demand airplane isn't what they should be doing. If its just dropping sonobuoys for other assets to monitor (I see no indication that the USMC is doing the low, risky, highly technical side of subhunting) then they should rig UAVs to do this job. The idea that the USMC thinks they can slam their way into this mission profile is more a glaring indictment of how far the Navy has fallen in the skill of hunting enemy subs (assuming that they have). Once we had carrier based S-3 Vikings that handled this mission with flair. Even SH-60s did their part. But they were specially equipped for the mission, not cargo or troop carrying MV-22s.