page_title: List of United States Navy aircraft squadrons
section_title: Strike Fighter (VFA)
hierarchical_section_title: List of United States Navy aircraft squadrons / Fixed Wing Squadrons / Strike Fighter (VFA)
caption_attribution_description: English: U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Christopher Tabert, Lockheed Martin F-35C Lightning II instructor pilot of Strike Fighter Squadron VFA-101 "Grim Reapers" lands at Eglin Air Force Base's 33d Fighter Wing after a two hour flight from Ft. Worth, Texas (USA). VFA-101 received the Navy's first F-35C carrier variant aircraft from Lockheed Martin at the squadron's home at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. VFA-101, based at Eglin Air Force Base, serves as the F-35C Fleet Replacement Squadron, training both aircrew and maintenance personnel to fly and repair the F-35C.
context_page_description: This is a list of active United States Navy aircraft squadrons. Deactivated or disestablished squadrons are listed in the List of Inactive United States Navy aircraft squadrons.
  Navy aircraft squadrons are composed of several aircraft, the officers who fly them, the officers and sailors who maintain them and administrative support officers and sailors. Some of the units listed in this article are not technically "squadrons", but they all operate U.S. Navy aircraft in some capacity.
  Squadrons and their history are listed in the Dictionary of American Naval Aviation Squadrons.
context_section_description: The VFA designation was created in 1980 to designate "Fighter Attack Squadron". The designation was assigned to squadrons equipped with the new F/A-18A Hornet fighter attack aircraft. In 1983 the designation was changed to "Strike Fighter Squadron" and all VFA squadrons in existence at the time were renamed from "Fighter Attack Squadron-___" to "Strike Fighter Squadron-___". An active component Strike Fighter Squadron consists of either ten or twelve F/A-18E single seat Super Hornets, twelve F/A-18F two seat Super Hornets or ten F-35C Lightning IIs. There is one reserve component VFA squadron equipped with the F/A-18C Hornet. Training squadrons (known as Fleet Replacement Squadrons) have many more aircraft. The Hornet and Super Hornet are all-weather aircraft used for attack and fighter missions. In fighter mode, they are used as a fighter escort and for fleet air defense; in attack mode, they are used for force projection, interdiction and close and deep air support. The Hornet and Super Hornet are also used for SEAD and the Super Hornet for aerial refueling.
  The F-35C is a fifth-generation strike fighter that was originally planned to replace the F/A-18C Hornet, but expiring F/A-18C service life and delays in F-35C procurement forced the Navy to increase its buy of F/A-18E and F Super Hornets to replace F/A-18C Hornets while awaiting the arrival of the F-35C. The last active component F/A-18C Hornet squadron began its transition to the super hornet in February 2019, leaving only a single reserve component F/A-18C Hornet squadron. The first deployable squadron to transition to the F-35C was a Super Hornet squadron. Ultimately each Carrier Air Wing will be equipped with two Super Hornet squadrons and two F-35C squadrons.
  VFA squadrons are home-ported at NAS Lemoore, CA or NAS Oceana, VA when not deployed except for the squadrons of CVW-5 which are forward deployed to MCAS Iwakuni, Japan
  Note: The parenthetical (1st), (2nd), (3rd) etc... appended to some designations in the lineage column of table below are not a part of the squadron designation system.  They are added to indicate that the designation was used more than once during the history of U.S. Naval Aviation and which use of the designation is indicated. Absence indicates that the designation was used only once.
  "F/A-18 Hornet strike fighter". USN Fact File. United States Navy.
caption: VFA-101 received its first F-35C at Eglin AFB, 22 June 2013.
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