A Marine fighter squadron that flew its last Hornet into retirement in 2023 is coming back — and this time it is coming back for the carrier deck.
On 31 July 2026, Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 115, the “Silver Eagles,” flew the F-35C Lightning II for the first time at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina. The squadron’s commanding officer, Lt. Col. Hugh Anderson, took the first jet up himself. It was the opening move in bringing a deactivated unit all the way back to the fight.
Informations clés
- Escadron: VMFA-115 “Silver Eagles,” U.S. Marine Corps
- Jalon: first flight on the F-35C Lightning II, 31 July 2026
- Où: MCAS Cherry Point, North Carolina (MAG-14, 2nd MAW)
- First sortie flown by: the CO, Lt. Col. Hugh Anderson
- History: deactivated November 2023 after retiring its F/A-18 Hornets
- Build-up: 6 jets by FY27, 10 by FY28, 12 by FY2031
From the last Hornet to the first Lightning
VMFA-115 was deactivated in November 2023 at MCAS Beaufort, South Carolina, when it retired its legacy F/A-18C/D Hornets and cased its colors. For a proud squadron, standing down is a quiet, painful thing. Standing back up on a fifth-generation stealth fighter is the opposite.
This time the Silver Eagles fall under Marine Aircraft Group 14 and 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, and they are rebuilding around the F-35C — not the short-takeoff F-35B the Marines are best known for, but the carrier variant with the bigger wing and the tailhook, built to launch off and trap aboard U.S. Navy flight decks.
Why the C matters
The F-35C lets Marine squadrons deploy as part of Navy carrier air wings, folding stealth strike power into the fleet wherever it sails. A second jet went up that day flown by Capt. Jackson Zagurski, wearing the markings of VMFA-251 — the sister squadron at Cherry Point that became the first East Coast Marine F-35C unit back in 2024.
The build-up is deliberate. Under the Marine Corps aviation plan, VMFA-115 is due six F-35Cs by fiscal 2027, ten by fiscal 2028, and a full 12 by 2031, with the jets fitted with the Technology Refresh-3 avionics upgrade. The unit is expected back in operational service later this year.
Squadrons do not often get a second life. The Silver Eagles are getting theirs on the most capable carrier fighter the Marine Corps has ever flown.
Sources: U.S. Marine Corps / 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing (DVIDS); Defence Industry Europe; The Aviationist; key.aero.
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