Most of the Marine Corps’ 276 F/A-18 Hornets are deployed, being used for training or in need of repair, the service's top aviator told lawmakers on Wednesday.

There aren't a lot of Hornets left in reserve for Marines to "train with during the day," Lt. Gen. Jon Davis Davis, deputy commandant for aviation, told the Senate Armed Services Seapower Subcommittee.

"That leads to low flight time and short training progression ," he said. "...We get them airplanes at the very last bit, right before they deploy and then they work up their readiness — but the bench is not ready to go."

Senators asked Davis about a recent Fox News report that only about 30 percent of the Marine Corps' F/A-18s are ready to fly.

"Of the Marine Corps' 276 Hornets, we can allow for no more than 102 to be in the depot at any given time," The Marine Corps said in a statement on Thursday. "We have many more aircraft in the depot than that, today. We need to have at least 174 F/A-18 A-Ds that are mission capable on the flight line to draw upon in order to fill out our squadrons "

Davis said 87 jets that are on the flight line are mission capable today, of which 40 are forward deployed and another 30 are assigned for training."

Hornets are often in demand since the carrier-based aircraft can be used to strike the Islamic State group and other enemy targets, provide close-air support to troops on the ground and conduct reconnaissance .

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"There’s multiple ways we got here, sir," Davis replied. "I would say 15 years of solid service and heavy fighting; we’ve got a very high [operational] tempo. The numbers of aircraft have reduced as well. The aircraft, while they were overseas were over-utilized.

"We've flown them a lot — a lot more than they were originally designed to fly. While we had them overseas, we kept some airplanes overseas maybe longer than we should have."

Cuts to the wartime budget along with the Marine Corps’ operations and maintenance funding have further reduced the number of aircraft that are mission ready, Davis added .

"From 2011 to 2013, the numbers of airplanes I had on the bench reduced by 35; and from 2013 to 2015, it was reduced by a further 76," he said.

Some F/A-18s are not flight-worthy due to a lack of spare parts, but the problem is much more pronounced for MV-22B Ospreys and CH-53E heavy-lift helicopters.

On Jan. 14, two CH-53E Super Stallions from Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 463 crashed off Oahu, killing 12 Marines, prompting questions from Senators about whether budget cuts have put Marines' lives at risk.

The Marine Corps is looking into whether lower readiness rates have led to an increase in aircraft mishaps, Assistant Commandant Gen. John Paxton told members of Congress in March.

"We are concerned about an increasing number of aircraft mishaps and accidents," Paxton said at the March 15 Senate Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee hearing. "We're looking to see if there's a linear correlation. We know historically that if you don't have the money and you don't have the parts and you don't have the maintenance then you fly less."

The Marine Corps has a plan to repair and refurbish its CH-53E fleet, Davis said on Wednesday. The first Super Stallion has gone through the process and the service plans to fix 48 helicopters per year, he said. The process takes about 100 days per helo.

Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., took time on Wednesday to thank the military officials who spoke to Fox News about the readiness issues facing the Marine Corps' aircraft.

"I think it actually is helpful for the American public to hear the truth and I celebrate a system where there's an open press that's willing to go and dig and find out some information and ask the right questions and get the public informed."