and night CAS. Back then Litening and
JDAM were new to us, and now here we
are in the midst of flying Harriers with
Link-16. For us it’s about the SA in the
target area. It’s going to enable fighter-
to-fighter sharing, including target data.’
Marine Harriers have been flying
with the AIM-120 AMRAAM since 2009.
Despite the advent of the AV-8B+ the
US didn’t follow Italy’s lead in using
the AMRAAM. ‘We train air-to-air, bothwithin visual range and beyond visual
range, but it’s note a core mission
essential task for us. We are all about
CAS.’ Bucklew says the squadron still
flies a lot of low-level missions, which
are very achievable from Yuma thanks
to a host of routes that start just to the
north of the base and go up into the
Chocolate Mountains or near the Salton
Sea. ‘We operate at medium altitude for
the most part, but we need to maintainour proficiency to fly low-altitude loft
deliveries or low-level gun runs. If we
need to fly low-weather CAS we can
run in at 300ft and pop up and roll
in to use our 5in rockets, the 25mm
[cannon] or high-drag bombs — they do
a nice job. We also have laser [AGM-65]
Maverick, which is great against moving
targets, and now we have 2.75in APKWS
[Advanced Precision Kill Weapon
System] laser rockets, but that’s been
pushed out more to the deployed units.’
Providing more details of how the
Harrier’s mission has evolved in recent
years, McGregor says: ‘The advent of
AMRAAM has not taken away from our
air-to-surface mindset — CAS, recce,
SCAR [strike co-ordination and airborne
reconnaissance] — it’s just enhanced
our capability. We have always had
an air-to-air capability with the AIM-9
and the gun. Adding the radar made
a huge difference in terms of being
able to participate in joint operations,
and the radar-guided AMRAAM just
added to that.’
Looking further into the future, a few
more refinements might be possible
before the Marines finally retire the
Harrier in 2026. A helmet-mounted
sight would be very welcome for the
pilots, but overall it seems that fleetLeft: A laser-
guided training
round (LGTR).
Jamie Hunter
Below: Easing out
of the sun shelter
for an afternoon
two-ship mission
to the local
ranges.
Jamie Hunter
Below right: Mk76
practice bombs
on a triple ejector
rack.
Jamie Hunter
Far right: A
‘Black Sheep’
night attack
bird carrying an
Intrepid Tiger II
pod. Conceived
as an emergency
measure
to counter
improvised
explosive devices,
the pod has
been developed
to intercept and
disrupt enemy
communications.
USMC/
SSgt Matt OrrFEATURE ARTICLE // VMA-214
34 February 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net
24-35 VMA-214 C.indd 34 13/12/2017 14:43