The Miramar-based “Death Rattlers” of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 323 ended the last deployment of Marine F/A-18 Hornets as the USS Nimitz returned to Bremerton, WA, from a 10-month mission.
The historic deployment will culminate in one last carrier fly-off by the Death Rattlers’ Hornets on Wednesday.
The squadron is set to transition to the new F-35 Lightning II, a fifth-generation stealth fighter that is being built by Lockheed Martin in three variants for the United States and its allies.
Different Marine squadrons will fly both the F35B, the short-takeoff version which can operate from amphibious assault ships, and the F35C Navy variant that is optimized for aircraft carriers.
The venerable Hornet became operational in 1978. It’s stealthy successor entered service in 2015 and over 2,400 have been ordered for the Marines, Navy and Air Force.
