Six Month Unit Deployment Underway

In late-September 2023, the first contingent of legacy fighter aircraft operated by the United States Marine Corps’ famed Red Devils Fighter Attack Squadron 232 arrived at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni—a USMC installation located in the Nishiki river delta southeast of the city of Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan.

The F/A-18C and F/A-18D Hornets, all sporting Raytheon’s APG-79(V)4 advanced combat radar system, will be operated from MCAS Iwakuni as part of a six-month unit deployment.

Squadron Commander Lieutenant Colonel Michael McMahon stated: “We’re the first F/A-18C squadron to get this new, active electronically scanned array radar, [it’s] very similar to what the Super Hornets have.

Lieutenant Colonel McMahon continued: “This radar has definitely increased our capabilities in all aspects of what we do.”

The APG-79(V)4 radar affords Hornet aircrews improved situational awareness, better ability to track targets nearly instantaneously, and improved capacity for tracking multiple targets. The radar comprises open system architecture and commercial-off-the-shelf parts delivering increased air-to-air and air-to-surface targeting and tracking capabilities.

“It’s definitely an edge over the rest of the F/A-18, the legacy charlies and delta fleet that’s out there,” McMahon opined.

Lieutenant Colonel McMahon referred to Raytheon’s APG-79(V)4 radar as a “big deal” by which legacy F/A-18 aircraft will remain relevant as the Marine Corps commences divesting itself of aging aircraft between now and 2030.

McMahon set forth: “Every single day, almost every sortie we went on, we were integrated with the F-35s. [The F/A-18] is a multi-role fighter; we do air-to-air, air-to-ground, and anti-maritime.”

McMahon contended the pairing of the fourth-generation F/A-18C/D jets with the fifth-generation F-35s occasioned a synergy by which each aircrafts’ individual capabilities were highlighted.

“The anti-maritime weapons and the number of strike weapons [and] the number of air weapons we can carry, in comparison to the F-35B, we can carry a little bit more,” the Lieutenant Colonel said. “We’re commonly called a ‘weapons truck’ for those folks.”

MCAS Iwakuni is home to two squadrons of permanently assigned F-35Bs, the USMC variant capable of performing Short Take-Offs and Vertical Landings (STOVL).

McMahon elaborated: “Flying with those guys [F-35B], especially with the new radar, seeing, no kidding, when you get to debrief face-to-face and see their capabilities and what they bring to the fight and how you can complement them and how they can complement ours, it’s a great experience.

“We came over to show the Japanese we are here to support,” McMahon concluded. “It’s also just part of putting forces out here in the Pacific to train and create those relationships, not just with foreign partners but also it’s a good time for us to work with the Air Force.”

FMI: www.marines.mil