Naval Air Station Oceana - Current Operations

Current Operations

Home to seventeen strike fighter squadrons of F/A-18 Hornets and F/A-18 Super Hornets, the base is the sole East Coast Master Jet Base and home to all the east coast strike-fighter (VFA) units (excluding VFA-86 and Marine Corps VMFA squadrons). Training is conducted by VFA-106 Gladiators in their F/A-18C/D Hornets and F/A-18E/F Super Hornets.

Tomcat training was conducted by the now disestablished VF-101 Grim Reapers. NAS Oceana was host to the "Tomcat Sunset" reunion from 21–23 September 2006, where over 3000 former and current aircrew and maintainers came together to celebrate the retirement of the F-14 from active Fleet service. NAS Oceana also was the location where the F-14 took off for the last time for final flight of the type when F-14D, Bureau Number (BuNo) 164603, Modex 101, of Fighter Squadron31 (VF-31) was ferried from NAS Oceana to Calverton on Long Island, NY for permanent static display at the Northrop Grumman facilities where the Tomcat was originally built.

During the 2005 round of BRAC base closures, it was decided that NAS Oceana could remain open only if certain conditions were met. The most contentious of these requirements was that the city of Virginia Beach buy and condemn approximately 3,400 residences and an unknown number of businesses in crash zones surrounding the base. The BRAC commission proposed moving the fighters to Cecil Field, a recently deactivated naval air station located near Jacksonville, Florida if NAS Oceana was not able to meet that and several other conditions. The plan was initially met with optimism by Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton, even though Cecil Field had already been converted into a joint civil-military airport with helicopter operations by the U.S. Coast Guard and the Florida Army National Guard and an associated commerce park dominated by major aerospace firms such as Northrop Grumman and Boeing performing major maintenance and overhaul work on a variety of military jet aircraft. The senior Navy leadership ultimately expressed disinterest in moving the Master Jet Base back to the Jacksonville area, having only deactivated Cecil Field less than six years earlier and moving all its Atlantic Fleet F/A-18 squadrons from the former NAS Cecil Field to NAS Oceana. In October 2005, the city of Jacksonville removed itself from the process.

On 20 December 2005 the Virginia Beach City Council passed numerous ordinances enacted to satisfy BRAC, but did not act to condemn any of the homes in the designated areas. In a November 2006 referendum, citizens of Jacksonville voted to leave the Cecil Field Airport and Commerce Center in civilian hands under the Jacksonville Aviation Authority, effectively halting any future plans of relocation.

In addition to the squadrons listed, there are numerous other commands present as "tenant" commands at Oceana:

• Fleet Readiness Center Mid-Atlantic, formerly known as Aviation Intermediate Maintenance Department (AIMD) Oceana. One of six centers for naval aviation maintenance, FRC provides Intermediate and Depot level maintenance support to the tenant squadrons and SeaOpDet technicians to aircraft carriers homeported on the East Coast.

• Strike Fighter Wing Atlantic, the command that serves as "Commodore" of all east coast Hornet and Super Hornet squadrons when not forward deployed with their respective carrier air wings.

• Strike Fighter Weapons School Atlantic (SFWSL) a Type Weapons School staffed by Strike Fighter Weapons & Tactics (SFWTI) instructors where F/A-18 aircrews go for "graduate level" training in air-to-ground ordnance delivery and air-to-air tactics.

• Landing Signal Officer School (LSO School), where pilots selected to be LSOs (also known as "paddles"...which is a very old term from the days when the LSO actually signaled to the approaching aircraft with brightly colored paddles) go to learn how to "wave" planes aboard the "boat" (aircrew speak for the aircraft carrier).

• CVW commands, or Carrier Air Wing Commanders (also called CAG, which is an old term derived from the previous name for these commands, Carrier Air Groups), which are responsible for all squadrons in an air wing when actually on board a carrier or when preparing for overseas deployment. Carrier Air Wings One, Three, Seven, Eight, and Seventeen maintain headquarters at NAS Oceana.

• Strike Fighter Composite Squadron 12 (VFC-12), a Navy Reserve F/A-18C Hornet squadron that provides adversary/aggressor training services to Atlantic Fleet strike fighter squadrons.

• Fleet Logistics Support Squadron 56 (VR-56), a Navy Reserve C-9 Skytrain II squadron that provides worldwide operational support airlift for deployable U.S. Navy Fleet units and shore establishment commands.

• Fleet Area Control and Surveillance Facility Virginia Capes (FACSFAC VACAPES, callsign GIANT KILLER), which is responsible for surveillance, management and sea and air traffic control of the Virginia Capes warning areas for training purposes, as well as surveillance duties in support of Homeland Defense.

• Construction Battalion Unit 415 (CBU 415), a Navy Seabee Battalion.

• Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training Unit Oceana (CNATTU Oceana), which trains Navy and Marine Corps aircraft maintainers on the F/A-18 and operates both A and C schools.

• Marine Aviation Training Support Group 33, a United States Marine Corps training administration command, primarily supporting USMC aviation student and instructor staff personnel assigned to the F/A-18 Fleet Readiness Squadron, VFA-106.

• A branch Medical and Dental clinic under the command of Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, VA.