Does The US Marine Corps Have Its Own Fighter Jets?

The goal of the Marine Corps air wing is to support Marines fighting on the ground. While they fly numerous different types of aircraft, their two main jet fighters are the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II and the F/A-18D Hornets, which the F-35B is meant to fully replace by 2030. 

Since 1971, the Marines have also flown two versions of vertical/short takeoff and landing (V/STOL) jets, which can land and take off like a helicopter but also pack as much firepower as a conventional attack aircraft. The British-built Hawker Siddeley AV-8A first entered the Marine Corps inventory in 1971 and lasted until 1985, when it was replaced by the AV-8B Harrier II made by McDonnell Douglas. As part of the effort to move away from the legacy tactical aircraft (TACAIR) to the F-35 platform (one of the best fighter jets in the world today), the USMC graduated their last two Harrier pilots in March 2024 with plans of phasing the plane out in 2026.

Two other versions of this Joint Strike Fighter exist — the F-35A is flown by the Air Force, and the F-35C by the Navy, which Marines also fly. The Marine's F-35B was the very first supersonic, radar-evading stealth fighter to possess short take-off/vertical landing (STOVL) capabilities, so it's capable of not only taking off from conventional land-based airstrips but also warships with much shorter runways. It is the most mechanically complex of the three versions, but because of its STOVL LiftFan propulsion system, it has less internal storage than the others. The F-35B conducted its first combat role in 2018 when it made strikes against the Taliban in Afghanistan and ISIS in Syria.

The United States Marine Corps was established on November 10, 1775, by the Second Continental Congress. They approved a decision to create "two Battalions of Marines" in order to bolster naval forces during the Revolutionary War by serving as landing forces with the fleet. Despite being a success, the Corps was shut down at the end of the war (1783) for economic and budgetary reasons and wasn't formally reestablished by Congress until July 11, 1798, again placed under the control of the Secretary of the Navy as a naval expeditionary force.

Today, the Marine Corps maintains amphibious and ground units for combat operations on land and at sea. As a rapid deployment force, the Marines are typically the "First to Fight" but also have a long and storied airwing component. In fact, the first Marine (First Lieutenant Alfred Cunningham) reported for flight instruction in 1912, and Marine pilots took part in day bomber missions over France and Belgium during World War I.

The 1st Marine Aircraft Wing was created on July 7, 1941, during World War II. Under the nickname, the "Cactus Air Force," it was instrumental in the South Pacific, especially in the defense of and around the island of Guadalcanal. By the end of WWII, the Marine Corps had grown to include five air wings. The most famous of the WWII squadrons is likely Marine Fighting Squadron 214, also referred to as "Black Sheep" commanded by Gregory "Pappy" Boyington. Between August 1943 and January 1944, VMF-214, flying the F4U Corsair, shot down or destroyed 203 Japanese planes. Their dramatized adventures were turned into a 1976 TV series starring Robert Conrad as "Pappy".

In April 2023, the Third Marine Aircraft Wing reactivated Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 311, which flies the Navy's F-35C Lightning II squadron. The squadron, designated as VMFA-311 and long known as the Tomcats, is the Corps' second F-35C squadron. It was originally commissioned in 1942 as Marine Attack Squadron 311 and included aviators like Hall of Fame baseball player Ted Williams and astronaut John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth. Some of its many accolades include being the first Marine squadron to use fighter aircraft for dive-bombing missions, the first to fly jets during the Korean War, and the first to use the AV-8B Harrier in combat during Operation Desert Shield.

The six primary functions of Marine aviation include anti-air warfare, offensive air support, assault support, electronic warfare, command and control, and aerial reconnaissance. So amphibious warfare and close air support have been key elements of the Marine Corps for over one hundred years.

On November 9 and 10, 2024, F-35C Lightning II aircraft attached to the Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 314 conducted the platform's first combat air strikes on Iranian-backed Houthi weapons storage facilities within Houthi-controlled territories in Yemen.