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Marine Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 2 (VMAQ-2) was a
United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...
electronic warfare Electronic warfare (EW) is any action involving the use of the electromagnetic spectrum (EM spectrum) or directed energy to control the spectrum, attack an enemy, or impede enemy assaults. The purpose of electronic warfare is to deny the opponen ...
squadron Squadron may refer to: * Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies * Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 aircraft, ...
in service from 1952 to 2019. It was the last squadron flying the
Northrop Grumman EA-6B Prowler The Northrop Grumman (formerly Grumman) EA-6B Prowler is a twin-engine, four-seat, mid-wing electronic-warfare aircraft derived from the A-6 Intruder airframe. The EA-6A was the initial electronic warfare version of the A-6 used by the United S ...
.


Mission

Its mission was to support the
Marine Air-Ground Task Force Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF, pronounced MAG-TAF) is a term used by the United States Marine Corps to describe the principal organization for all missions across the range of military operations. MAGTFs are a balanced air-ground, combined ar ...
(MAGTF) commander by conducting airborne electronic warfare, day or night, under all weather conditions during expeditionary, joint, or combined operations. The squadron was based at
Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point or MCAS Cherry Point (*) is a United States Marine Corps airfield located in Havelock, North Carolina, United States, in the eastern part of the state. It was built in 1941, and was commissioned in 1942 and ...
,
North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
and fell under the command of
Marine Aircraft Group 14 Marine Aircraft Group 14 (MAG-14) is a United States Marine Corps aviation unit based at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina that is currently composed of four AV-8B Harrier squadrons, one F-35C squadron, one UAV squadron, one ...
(MAG-14) and the
2nd Marine Aircraft Wing The 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing (2nd MAW) is the major east coast aviation unit of the United States Marine Corps and is headquartered in Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina. The Wing provides the aviation combat element for the ...
(2nd MAW).


History

VMAQ-2's predecessor squadrons flew various electronic warfare aircraft, including the AD-5 Skyraider, the EF-10 Skyknight, the RF-8 Crusader, the RF-4B Phantom II, and the
EA-6A Intruder The Grumman A-6 Intruder is an American twinjet all-weather attack aircraft developed and manufactured by American aircraft company Grumman Aerospace and operated by the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps. It was designed in response to a 1957 r ...
. VMC-2 was the original composite squadron (combined aerial photographic reconnaissance and electronic warfare capability) in Marine Corps aviation. It was commissioned at
Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point or MCAS Cherry Point (*) is a United States Marine Corps airfield located in Havelock, North Carolina, United States, in the eastern part of the state. It was built in 1941, and was commissioned in 1942 and ...
on September 15, 1952 evolving from the former Airborne Early Warning and Electronic Counter Measures section of the Wing Headquarters Squadron. On December 1, 1955, the squadron was redesignated as VMCJ-2 after former Marine Photographic Squadron 2 (VMJ-2) was decommissioned and joined VMC-2, and became VMCJ-2 (Marine Composite Jamming Squadron 1). As 1955 was also the year ''Playboy'' magazine was first published, it soon followed that the squadron adopted the Playboy name and logo with their permission. In 1962, VMCJ-2 provided electronic and photographic intelligence during the
Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) ( es, Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis () in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 35-day (16 October – 20 November 1962) confrontation between the United S ...
that enabled President Kennedy to make key decisions that would lead to the removal of Soviet military equipment from Cuba. In 1964 VMCJ-2 participated in Operation Steel Pike, the largest amphibious training exercise in history. The unit sailed from Morehead City, NC to the Naval Base at Rota, Spain and flew both photographic and electronic warfare missions during the exercise.


Vietnam War

Less than three years after the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis, some of the same VMCJ-2 aircrews deployed with VMCJ-1 to Vietnam and applied their lessons learned against Cuba as the EF-10Bs began to provide ECM support for air strikes against North Vietnamese targets. Beginning in the Spring of 1966 the squadron began sending Marines to join VMCJ-1 in Vietnam for 13-month tours. In late November 1965, VMCJ-2 received the first EA-6A Electric Intruder. With the rapidly escalating North Vietnamese air defenses this new EW aircraft was anxiously awaited by VMCJ-1 still flying the outdated EF-10B Skyknights, However, the initial EW systems delivered with the new aircraft proved unsuitable for the mission without some major modifications. Given the urgency, the decision was made to make the modifications by a contractor team on-site at VMCJ-2. The success of this effort was due to the dedicated support of VMCJ-2 personnel who worked tirelessly to get the aircraft ready for deployment to Vietnam. During this same time period the squadron received the first of its RF-4Bs and for several months the squadron was flying four different aircraft types. In October, 1966 VMCJ-2 sent six EA-6As with full maintenance capability to Danang, Vietnam as a VMCJ-1 replacement cadre. The squadron would continue to provide replacement aircrews and updated aircraft to VMCJ-1 in Vietnam. In 1971 the squadron deployed the first EA-6A detachment aboard for a Mediterranean cruise that lasted 10 months with cross decking to and . On April 13, 1972 the squadron diverted an EA-6A detachment that was scheduled to deploy on the ''Saratoga'' in the Mediterranean to WESTPAC to join VMCJ-1 at NAS Cubi Point. The VMCJ-2 detachment operated in concert with VMCJ-1 to support strikes against North Vietnam under
Operation Linebacker Operation Linebacker was the codename of a U.S. Seventh Air Force and U.S. Navy Task Force 77 air interdiction campaign conducted against North Vietnam from 9 May to 23 October 1972, during the Vietnam War. Its purpose was to halt or slow the ...
that ended with the release of the U.S. POWs early in 1973.


Cold War sea service

After its re-designation in 1975, VMAQ-2 deployed detachments of EA-6A Electric Intruder aircraft esignated Detachments Alpha, Bravo, and Charlieand EA-6B Prowler aircraft esignated Detachments Xray, Yankee, and Zuluon a continuous basis in support of Marine forces in the Western Pacific and in support of Fleet Commanders on aircraft carriers, including lengthy deployments on the , , , and . In 1977, the squadron transitioned to the EA-6B Prowler with the Improved Capability (ICAP) EW suite. In 1986, a detachment of the squadron participated in U.S. raids against Libya as part of
Operation El Dorado Canyon The 1986 United States bombing of Libya, code-named Operation El Dorado Canyon, consisted of air strikes by the United States against Libya on Tuesday 15 April 1986. The attack was carried out by the U.S. Air Force (USAF), U.S. Navy and U.S. M ...
.


The Persian Gulf War and the Balkans

In 1990, VMAQ-2 deployed Detachments Yankee and Zulu to
Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...
in support of
Operation Desert Shield The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...
and
Operation Desert Storm Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...
, flying nearly 500 combat sorties in a six-week period. Detachment X-Ray was already forward deployed with the
1st Marine Aircraft Wing The 1st Marine Aircraft Wing is an aviation unit of the United States Marine Corps that serves as the Aviation Combat Element of the III Marine Expeditionary Force. The wing is headquartered at Camp Foster on the island of Okinawa, Japan. Activ ...
in the Western Pacific for their routine six-month rotation and would remain there for a total of 410 days - more than double their scheduled deployment time - the longest continuous deployment in Marine aviation history during peacetime. On 1 July 1992, VMAQ-2, the largest tactical squadron in Marine Aviation, was reorganized into three squadrons: VMAQ-1 "Banshees", VMAQ-2 "Playboys", and VMAQ-3 "Moondogs". In 1993, outside pressure forced the Marine Corps to direct the squadron to change their name and logo from "Playboys" to something more politically correct. After several ideas were rejected the squadron chose "Panthers" as the new name and began using the logo (with permission) of the National Football League's
Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. T ...
. VMAQ-2 later changed from the "Panthers" to the current name "Death Jesters". Even with the name changes the squadron continues to use "Playboy" Bunny patches and paint jobs on their five aircraft. Even the CY tail code was fashioned on some in the shape of a bunny head (designed and implemented by VMAQ-2's MMCO at the time, Captain Ross Meglathery). VMAQ-2’s next assignment led them to
Aviano Air Base Aviano Air Base ( it, Base aerea di Aviano) is a base in northeastern Italy, in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. It is located in the Aviano municipality, at the foot of the Carnic Pre-Alps or Southern Carnic Alps, about from Pordenone. Th ...
,
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
, in March 1996 in support of
Operation Decisive Endeavor The Implementation Force (IFOR) was a NATO-led multinational peace enforcement force in Bosnia and Herzegovina under a one-year mandate from 20 December 1995 to 20 December 1996 under the codename ''Operation Joint Endeavour''. Background NATO ...
. This operation tasked VMAQ-2 with missions over
Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...
. Specifically, VMAQ-2 Prowlers provided Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) support to British Harriers performing reconnaissance flights over weapons containment sites in these two areas of operation. In 1997, VMAQ-2 once again deployed to Aviano Air Base. However, this time it was in support of
Operation Deliberate Guard D, or d, is the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''dee'' (pronounced ), plural ''dees''. History The ...
. VMAQ-2 was tasked with flying missions over Bosnia to cover the Bosnian elections. On February 3, 1998 a USMC Grumman EA-6B Prowler, BuNo ''163045'', callsign "''Easy 0-1"'' from VMAQ-2, struck a cable supporting a gondola in Cavalese, Italy. The cable was severed and 20 people in the cabin plunged over 80 metres to their deaths. The plane had wing and tail damage but was able to return to the base. It was the squadron's first major mishap in over 60,000 flight hours spanning nearly fifteen years of worldwide operations. In February 1999, VMAQ-1, VMAQ-2, VMAQ-3, and VMAQ-4 received the order to again deploy to Aviano Air Base in Italy in support of
Operation Noble Anvil The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) carried out an aerial bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The air strikes lasted from 24 March 1999 to 10 June 1999. The bombings continued until an a ...
and possible subsequent combat operations against the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...
. After diplomatic attempts to resolve the
Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...
crisis failed,
Operation Allied Force The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) carried out an aerial bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The air strikes lasted from 24 March 1999 to 10 June 1999. The bombings continued until an a ...
began. VMAQ-2 launched day and night sorties to provide jamming and
HARM Harm is a moral and legal concept. Bernard Gert construes harm as any of the following: * pain * death * disability *mortality * loss of abil ity or freedom * loss of pleasure. Joel Feinberg gives an account of harm as setbacks to intere ...
support to U.S. and
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
missions. VMAQ-2 also provided support for armed reconnaissance missions, day and night battlefield air interdiction strikes, and combat search and rescue efforts of downed allied aircrew. When Operation Allied Force came to an end, VMAQ-2 had flown 2151.5 combat hours, 464 combat sorties, and fired 57 High speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARM) against the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...
.


Global War on Terrorism

In February 2003, VMAQ-2 deployed to
Prince Sultan Air Base Prince Sultan Air Base ( ar, قاعدة الأمير سلطان الجوية) (PSAB) is a military air base located in the closed-city of Al Kharj, Saudi Arabia. History There was formerly a large United States presence there during Operat ...
,
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
, initially in support of
Operation ENDURING FREEDOM Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) was the official name used synonymously by the U.S. government for both the War in Afghanistan (2001–2014) and the larger-scale Global War on Terrorism. On 7 October 2001, in response to the September 11 at ...
and then
Operation IRAQI FREEDOM {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
. VMAQ-2 logged over 1000 combat hours in under 60 days during the
invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Ba'athist Iraq, Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one mont ...
. VMAQ-2 deployed to
Tallil Air Base Nasiriyah Airport is a public and military airport located 23 km (14 mi) southwest of Nasiriyah, Iraq. It is also known as Tallil Air Base until December 2011 and Imam Ali Air Base until March 2017, when the base was used by United ...
, Iraq, for
Operation IRAQI FREEDOM II {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
from July 2004 through January 2005 and became the first Prowler squadron to operate from Iraqi soil. The squadron logged over 2000 mishap-free combat hours and attained 10,000 mishap free flight hours during the same period. VMAQ-2 was subsequently chosen as the Marine Corps Aviation Association 2005 Prowler squadron of the year In January 2006, VMAQ-2 deployed to
Al Asad Airbase Ayn al Asad is an Iraqi Armed Forces base located in Al Anbar Governorate (also called Anbar province) of western Iraq. It was originally known as Qadisiyah Airbase. It was the second largest US military airbase in Iraq during Operation Iraqi ...
, Iraq in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM 05-07. VMAQ-2 flew 691 combat missions for 3286.7 combat flight hours and supported 975 Joint Tactical Air Requests (JTARS). This rigorous operational tempo resulted in four times the normal airframe utilization rate. In July 2007, VMAQ-2 returned to Al Asad, Iraq in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM 06-08. During the deployment, VMAQ-2 flew 821 combat missions for a total of 4423.0 combat flight hours while supporting Coalition ground forces. This sustained tempo led not only to the highest utilization rate for any Prowler squadron but also for any Type/Model/Series in the Marine Corps. In November 2018, VMAQ-2 returned from its final deployment and the final deployment of any USMC Prowler squadron. The squadron was decommissioned on March 8, 2019.


Awards

VMAQ-2’s awards include the Navy Unit Commendation Streamer with two Bronze Stars for the Cuban Missile Crisis and actions against Iraq, the Meritorious Unit Commendation Streamer with two Bronze Stars, the Marine Corps Expeditionary Streamer with two Bronze Stars, the National Defense Service Streamer with two Bronze Stars, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Streamer with one Bronze Star for Cuban and Dominican Republic service, and the Southwest Asia Service Streamer with two Bronze Stars.


See also

*
United States Marine Corps Aviation United States Marine Corps Aviation (USMCA) is the aircraft arm of the United States Marine Corps. Aviation units within the Marine Corps are assigned to support the Marine Air-Ground Task Force, as the aviation combat element, by providing six ...
*
List of United States Marine Corps aircraft squadrons This is a list of all of the active squadrons that exist in the United States Marine Corps, sorted by type. Most squadrons have changed names and designations many times over the years, so they are listed by their current designation. :''To see ...
*
List of decommissioned United States Marine Corps aircraft squadrons While other nations have Marine corps, Marines who are aviators, only the United States Marine Corps has its own dedicated aviation arm. Most squadrons have changed names and designations many times over the years so they are listed by their final ...


Citations

:


References

;Bibliography *


External links


Marine Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 2
(www.mag14.marines.mil) {{2ndMAW
EA-6B The Northrop Grumman (formerly Grumman) EA-6B Prowler is a twin-engine, four-seat, mid-wing electronic-warfare aircraft derived from the A-6 Intruder airframe. The EA-6A was the initial electronic warfare version of the A-6 used by the United ...
Inactive units of the United States Marine Corps