The Marine Corps is saying goodbye to a decades-old jet, and Marines who work on its engine will quickly enter the fleet for the final time.
The AV-8B Harrier II jet has been in service because the Eighties, in line with the Marine Corps. Because the service modernizes right into a lighter expeditionary drive and focuses its consideration on the F-35B Lightning II, the Corps is eliminating the older jet.
After a 60-day course, 5 Marines who will now work on Harrier engines have graduated the ultimate class the Corps will ever placed on. The Harrier might be phased out of use over the following two years, in line with a press launch asserting the commencement this week of the final class of Marines who repair it up.
Learn Subsequent: Pentagon Identifies 3 Army Reserve Troopers Killed in Jordan When Iran-Backed Militants Flew Drone into Residing Quarters
The ultimate class of Marines who will restore and keep the Harrier’s monster F402 jet engine is one other casualty of the Marine Corps’ Drive Design 2030, an aggressive effort to modernize the service that has already seen it do away with its tanks and the scout sniper army occupational specialty, or MOS.
“Educating this class is bittersweet. I’m proud to go on information to the final era of scholars,” Gunnery Sgt. Ryan Fife, an teacher for the course, mentioned Monday in a information launch. “On the opposite aspect, that is the top of an period for the Marine Corps.”
Marines who graduated the course spent two months studying concerning the Harrier’s engine and its fuel turbine starter, in line with the discharge. They are going to be assigned to Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 14, the final unit that works on Harriers situated at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Level, North Carolina.
After the Harrier makes its remaining flight, Marines who had been assigned to keep up it should have the choice to maneuver to a different MOS of their alternative.
“It is mind-boggling to me, understanding that I’ll the fleet quickly and there may be no one else taking this class after me,” Pfc. Landyn Powers, a fixed-wing energy crops mechanic pupil, mentioned within the launch.
The Harrier jet has been within the Marine Corps’ stock for practically 40 years. In 2020, the service shut down one among its most well-known Harrier squadrons and transitioned to the F-35B stealth fighter.
“With two years left earlier than the AV-8B Harrier II is retired, the Marine Corps has shifted its priorities to organize for the transition of the F-35 Lightning II, America’s premier fifth-generation fighter,” in line with the press launch. “The F-35 Lightning II, designed to function from ship and shore, gives the Marine Corps with operational flexibility, and unmatched lethality and tactical supremacy.”
Associated: Marine Corps Marks Finish of Harrier Operations for Historic ‘Tomcats’ Squadron
