Fifty-Five Years of Vertical Power: USMC Harriers Give Way to the F-35B
On June 3, 2026, at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, the last operational AV-8B Harrier II of the United States Marine Corps touched down for the final time. Marine… 
On June 3, 2026, at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, the last operational AV-8B Harrier II of the United States Marine Corps touched down for the final time. Marine Attack Squadron 223, the “Bulldogs,” conducted the sundown ceremony that closed more than five decades of Harrier operations. The squadron had just returned from a deployment with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard USS Iwo Jima. With that flight, the Marine Corps completed its transition from the distinctive jump jet to the F-35B Lightning II for its short-takeoff and vertical-landing fixed-wing mission. The Harrier’s silhouette and the roar of its Pegasus engine passed into history.
The Marine Corps first…
