In the face of the war waged between Russia and Ukraine, NATO continues to reinforce its defensive position in Eastern Europe. The military alliance is receiving further reinforcements from the US, in the form of 10 Marine Corps (USMC) F/A-18C/D Hornet fighters.
On Tuesday (29), the Pentagon press secretary, iral John Kirby, revealed that a group of 200 Marines who were participating in the Cold Response Exercise, in Norway, were redeployed to Lithuania.
“So I can say that a command and control unit from Maritime Air Control Group 28, based in Cherry Point, has been redeployed in Lithuania. There are about 200 people Kirby said when answering a reporter about troops in Europe.
In addition to the group of soldiers in Lithuania, another 10 F/A-18 Hornet fighter planes and an unidentified number of C-130 Hercules freighters were deployed to Eastern Europe.
“And about 10 Marine Corps F-18 Hornets from Beaufort, South Carolina and some C-130s will now be redeployed to Eastern Europe. I don't have an exact destination right now. But they will be repositioned and there are more than 200 military personnel. So, I mean, we're trying to be flexible here.”, said Kirby without revealing where the planes will go.
Kirby's announcement about the Marine Hornets comes the day after he reported that six Navy EA-18 electronic warfare jets were sent to .
According to the portal The Aviationist, the fighters belong to the VMFA-312 Checkerboards, VMFA-115 Silver Eagles and VMFA(AW)-224 Fighting Bengals squadrons. The aircraft were deployed at Bodo air station in northern Norway, where they were participating in military exercises.
Marine Air Base Beaufort still has four squadrons equipped with Legacy Hornets. The units are all “composite”, employing single-seat and two-seat fighters.
Despite being replaced by the more modern F-35B/C, the USMC has selected 84 F/A-18s to be upgraded and capable of achieving up to 10.000 flight hours, remaining in service until 2030.
Despite being veterans, the fighters can perform very well in many missions, including the close air role for Marines operating on the ground. That's thanks to a number of avionics and electronic warfare enhancements, including a new Radar Alert Sensor (RWR), a self-protective electronic jamming system, active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, and compatibility with new weaponry such as air-to-air missiles. AIM-120D AMRAAM and AIM-9X Sidewinder and APKWS Precision Rocket.
