The Marine Corps' oldest flying squadron flew its last Harrier jump jet flight as the unit's pilots ready to fly new F-35 stealth fighters
The Marine Corps will soon rebrand a storied aviation squadron as its pilots switch to a new jet designed for next-level warfare.
Amid ongoing changes to the Corps, the North Carolina-based Marine Attack Squadron 231 will be renamed "Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 231." The squadron, identified as the service's oldest flying squadron, was formed just after World War I, and it adopted the Harrier jump jet in the mid-1980s.
With VMA-231's rebranding, the unit's pilots will no longer fly the AV-8B Harrier, an aircraft known for its short and vertical take-off and landing capabilities. The Corps is doing away with the plane, preferring the new fifth-generation F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters. Marines fly the stealth jet's B variant built for short runways and big-deck amphibious assault ships.
VMA-231, known as the "Ace of Spades," will be deactivated later this year and then reactivated as VMFA-231 in the next fiscal year. The aviation unit completed its last Harrier flight last Thursday at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, according to a news release out Monday.
"Everybody knows that VMA-231 is transitioning to F-35s," said the unit's commanding officer, Lt. Col. Paul Truog, stressing that the final Harrier flight was not a "sad day" and asserting that "the Wing, the [Marine Aircraft Group], and the squadron are going to be more capable of responding to any crisis."
The Corps has already phased out training for the aviation mechanics responsible for Harrier engine maintenance and for Harrier pilots amid the push to field fifth-generation fighters. In previous discussions with BI, Marine pilots have characterized the newer F-35 as a game-changing capability.
The changes come as the Corps remains deep in its transformation, a process to move from fielding a force built to fight counterinsurgencies to one made for modern warfare in the Pacific. It's a shift made all the more difficult by major logistical hurdles in the region and fast changing battlefields being radically shaped by AI and drone technology.
Along with the Harrier, the Corps has put F/A-18 Hornets on the chopping block to make way for the F-35. The Hornet made up over half of the Corps' tactical air capabilities in 2022, according to Military.com, and has been a go-to aircraft for the Marines and the Navy for both offensive and defensive needs. But there's a growing recognition that future fights could demand next-generation capabilities.
In its statement on changes to VMA-231, the Marine Corps said "the squadron's transition from the legacy AV-8B Harrier II to the F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter is representative of 2nd MAW's ongoing modernization efforts to meet the needs of the future fight," referring to the 2nd Marine Air Wing.
The Corps' "Force Design" plans, announced in 2020 amid much controversy, has already seen the service scrap its scout sniper program and tanks in an all-out effort to shed any capability deemed less urgent for the Pacific, and it has also rolled out new units in Hawaii and Japan specially formed for fighting along the Pacific's formidable island chains.
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