Marine Corps Retires Last AV-8B Harrier Squadron, Completing Transition to F-35B

U.S. Marine Corps held a Harrier Sundown ceremony today at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, retiring the AV-8B Harrier II from its last operational squadron, Marine Attack Squadron 223. VMA-223, known as the “Bulldogs,” completed the service’s final Harrier deployment aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima as part of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit.

U.S. operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro earlier in 2026. The AV-8A Harrier first entered Marine Corps service in 1971.

The AV-8B Harrier II that followed featured a larger composite wing, improved performance, greater payload capacity, and enhanced avionics. Later upgrades added night-attack capabilities and radar-equipped AV-8B Plus variants that used the AN/APG-65 radar from F/A-18A/B Hornets.

Marine AV-8Bs flew thousands of sorties during Operation Desert Storm in 1991 and later took part in combat operations over the Balkans, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and against ISIS.

Between November 2011 and May 2012, VMA-223 provided close air support in southwestern Afghanistan. The 2022 Marine Aviation Plan outlined the full transition away from the Harrier. The final two Marine pilots completed AV-8B qualification training in 2024.

Maj. Eric Shiebe, executive officer of VMA-223, and Sgt. Tatiana Rios participated in an incentive flight at Cherry Point on May 19, 2026. S. Marine Corps AV-8Bs with VMA-223 flew over the coast of North Carolina on May 15, 2026.

The squadron also conducted operations from Gowen Field, Boise, Idaho, in April 2021. An AV-8B assigned to VMA-311 landed aboard USS Peleliu in the South China Sea in June 2008, and two AV-8Bs received preflight checks aboard USS Nassau during Operation Desert Shield.

An AV-8B and an F-35B appeared together at the change of command and redesignation ceremony for VMFA-214 at MCAS Yuma, Arizona, in March 2022.

An F-35B attached to VMFA-211 took off from USS Essex on April 22, 2026. The AV-8B remains in frontline service with Italy and Spain.

Lt. Col. Thomas D. Gore, former commanding officer of VMA-223, piloted an AV-8B over the Kajaki Dam in Helmand province, Afghanistan.