List of United States Navy aircraft squadrons

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.

The U.S. Navy uses the term "squadron" only to describe units consisting of aircraft, ships, submarines or boats. It does not use it for maintenance, medical, administrative, support or other any other units as does the USAF, U.S. Army, and USMC. There are three exceptions: Tactical Air Control Squadrons (TACRON) operate Tactical Air Control Centers aboard amphibious ships and consist of personnel who control aircraft in amphibious operations; Tactical Operations Control Squadrons (TOCRON) operate Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing Tactical Operations Centers supporting Patrol (VP) squadron operations; and the operating units of Naval Special Warfare Development Group colloquially known as "SEAL Team Six" are called "squadrons" named by color (these squadrons are the organizational equivalent of a "regular" SEAL Team).

Selected aircraft squadrons and their history are listed in the Dictionary of American Naval Aviation Squadrons (DANAS).

Aircraft Squadron organization

thumb|Navy squadron organization (a typical squadron)

Navy aircraft squadrons are composed of aircraft, the officers who fly the aircraft, the officers and sailors who crew or maintain them, and operational and administrative support sailors. Aircraft carrier based squadrons number between about 150 and 250 officers and sailors and have as few as five aircraft to as many as fourteen depending on the type of squadron. Aircraft squadrons are commanded by a Naval Aviator or Naval Flight Officer (NFO) Commanding Officer (CO) who holds the rank of Commander. Second in command is the Executive Officer (XO), also a Naval Aviator or NFO who also holds the rank of Commander. The XO typically assumes command of the squadron after approximately 15 months as XO. In the case of Training Squadrons or Test and Evaluation Squadrons the CO or XO will often be a USMC Lieutenant Colonel as those squadrons are composed of both Navy and Marine Corps personnel. A Command Master Chief (CMC), a senior sailor who holds the rating of Command master chief petty officer acts as the senior enlisted advisor to the CO. There are typically four departments – Operations, Maintenance, Safety, and Administration – each led by a Lieutenant Commander Naval Aviator or NFO "Department Head". An assistant Maintenance Officer who is a senior Lieutenant or Lieutenant Commander Aerospace Maintenance Duty Officer or Limited Duty Officer assists the maintenance department head. Within the departments are divisions each headed by a Lieutenant or Lieutenant (junior grade) Naval Aviator or NFO "Division Officer". Divisions are divided into branches typically headed by a Chief Petty Officer but in very large squadrons they may be headed by a Lieutenant (junior grade) or recently promoted Lieutenant. All but four officers in an aircraft carrier based squadron are Naval Aviators or NFOs with those four typically being two Aerospace Maintenance Duty Officers or Limited Duty Officers, one Intelligence Officer, and one aircraft maintenance or ordnance Warrant Officer. If there is an Ensign to be found in an aircraft squadron he or she will likely be one of the non-Naval Aviators or NFOs as the length of Naval Aviator and NFO training pipelines often exceeds two years.

The CO of a Reserve squadron is also a Commander, as is the XO who will also assume command after approximately 15 months. However, reserve squadron demographics are typically older and more senior in rank than their active duty squadron counterparts. Department heads in reserve squadrons are typically senior Lieutenant Commanders or recently promoted Commanders. Where this difference in maturity level becomes more apparent is at the division officer level. Since most officers in reserve squadrons previously served on active duty in the Regular Navy in a flying status for eight to ten or more years, they are typically already Lieutenant Commanders or achieve that rank shortly after transferring to the Navy Reserve. As a result, Lieutenants are a minority and Lieutenants (junior grade) are practically non-existent in reserve squadrons; therefore, divisions are typically headed by Lieutenant Commanders and branches by Lieutenants, Senior Chief Petty Officers or Chief Petty Officers. U.S. Navy Reserve squadrons are manned by a combination of full-time and part-time reservists. The Navy Reserve provides 100% of the Navy's Adversary and land based Fleet Logistics Support capability.

Aircraft Squadron designations

A single squadron can carry a number of designations through its existence. Chief Of Naval Operations Instruction 5030.4G governs the squadron designation system. A squadron comes into existence when it is "established". Upon establishment it receives a designation, for example Patrol Squadron One ("VP-1"). During the life of the squadron it may be "redesignated" one or more times, the Navy's oldest currently active squadron is VFA-14 which has been redesignated 15 times since it was established in 1919. Over the history of U.S. Naval Aviation there have been many designations which have been used multiple times (re-used) resulting in multiple unrelated squadrons bearing the same designation at different times. Once a squadron was either redesignated or "disestablished" its designation became available for a newly established squadron or a squadron redesignation. A squadron's lineage and history does not follow the designation, it follows the squadron regardless of the designation. A squadron which receives a designation of a previous squadron may adopt the insignia and or nickname of that former squadron, but that does not make it the same squadron and it cannot lay claim to the previous squadron's lineage or history any more than a new ship commissioned USS Enterprise could claim to be the actual WWII aircraft carrier USS Enterprise.

Navy and Marine Corps squadrons are designated using a series of letters followed by a hyphen and a series of numbers. In 1920 with issuance of General Order 541, two overall types of aircraft were identified and assigned permanent letters; lighter than air types were identified by the letter Z and heavier than air types by the letter V. The use of letter abbreviations for squadrons was promulgated in the "Naval Aeronautic Organization for Fiscal Year 1923" which is the first known record associating the abbreviated Aircraft Class Designations with abbreviated squadron designations. Squadrons which flew heavier than air aircraft were designated with the first letter V and squadrons which flew lighter than air aircraft (blimps) were designated with the fist letter Z. A second letter followed indicating the purpose of the squadron (ex: P for Patrol, F for fighter). A VP squadron was a patrol squadron which flew patrol airplanes and a ZP squadron was a patrol squadron which flew patrol blimps. Squadrons were numbered either serially within each type (VP-1, VP-2 etc...) or they were numbered to conform with a higher level organization (VF-8 belonging to Carrier Air Group eight during WWII for example) depending on the designation scheme in use at that specific time in history. Squadron numbers today are a result of this mixed history resulting in seemingly non-sensical numbering.

In 1948 the Navy established its first two operational helicopter squadrons designating them Helicopter Utility Squadrons. Even though helicopters are heavier than air aircraft it did not use the letter "V" in the squadron designation but instead designated them "HU" ('Helicopter, Utility'). It was in use for less than two months as on 1 September 1948 VAW-1 and VAW-2 were redesignated "Composite Squadron" VC-11 and VC-12. In July 1956 the VAW designation was resurrected (VAWs 110, 111, 112, 114 and 122 have since been disestablished or deactivated). In 2019, the VAW designation was renamed from Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron to Airborne Command and Control squadron and all VAW squadrons were renamed "Airborne Command & Control Squadron____" retaining the VAW designation.

Each Airborne Command and Control squadron consists of five E-2D Hawkeyes except for the Fleet Replacement Squadron which has more. Transition to the E-2D Hawkeye from the E-2C began in 2010 and completed in 2026 with the transition of VAW-116 which was the last squadron to operate the E-2C. The Hawkeye's primary mission is to provide all-weather airborne early warning, airborne battle management and command and control (C2) functions for the carrier strike group and Joint Force Commander. Additional missions include surface surveillance coordination, air interdiction, offensive and defensive counter air control, close air support coordination, time critical strike coordination, search and rescue airborne coordination and communications relay.

All deployable VAW squadrons are operationally assigned to a carrier air wing and administratively to Airborne Command & Control and Logistics Wing which is a Type Wing. The Fleet Replacement Squadron reports operationally and administratively to the Type Wing.

The single Fleet Replacement Squadron which serves both the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets is based at Naval Station Norfolk, VA. Deployable squadrons when not deployed are home-ported at either Naval Station Norfolk, VA or Naval Base Ventura County, Point Mugu, CA. The exception is VAW-125, which is forward deployed to MCAS Iwakuni, Japan with Carrier Air Wing Five.

Disestablished and deactivated VAW squadrons can be found here: Disestablished or deactivated VAW squadrons

{| class="wikitable sortable"

! Squadron designation !! Insignia !! Nickname !! Aircraft !! Carrier Air Wing !! Type Wing !! Squadron lineage were established to develop and evaluate new equipment and methods. From 1946 to 1968 the designation was variously "Experimental and Development" squadron, "Operational Development" squadron, "Air Operational Development" squadron and "Air Development" squadron. In 1969 the designation changed to "Air Test and Evaluation" squadron and it remains as such today.

|JA

|VX-9

|center|60px

|Vampires

|style="white-space: nowrap;"|FA-18E, FA-18F, F-35C, EA-18G

|VX-9: 30 Apr 1994–present

|NAWS China Lake

|XE

|VX-20

|center|60px

|Force

|style="white-space: nowrap;"|E-2D, E-6B, E-130J, C-130T, C-130J, C-2A, C-38A, P-8A

| rowspan="4" align=center|Naval Test Wing Atlantic

|Naval Force Acft Test Sqdn: 21 Jul 1955 – 1 May 2002 VX-20: 1 May 2002 – present

|NAS Patuxent River

|FORCE

|HX-21

|center|60px

|Blackjack

|style="white-space: nowrap;"|AH-1Z, UH-1Y, MH-60R, MH-60S, CH-53E, CH-53K, CMV-22B, TH-57C, MQ-8C

|Naval Rotary Wing Acft Test Sqdn: 21 Jul 1995 – 1 May 2002 HX-21: 1 May 2002 – present

|NAS Patuxent River

|HX

|VX-23

|center|60px

|Salty Dogs

|style="white-space: nowrap;"|F/A-18A/B/C/D/E/F, F-35B/C, EA-18G, T-45

|Naval Strike Acft Test Sqdn: 21 Jul 1995 – 1 May 2002 VX-23: 1 May 2002 – present

|NAS Patuxent River

|SD

|UX-24

|center|60px

|Ghost Wolves

|style="white-space: nowrap;"|MQ-8, MQ-9, RQ-20, MQ-25, RQ-26

|UX-24: 18 Oct 2018 – present

|NAS Patuxent River

|VX-30

|center|60px

|Bloodhounds

|style="white-space: nowrap;"|P-3C, NP-3C, NP-3D, NC-20G, NC-37B E-2D, KC-130T, UAVs

| rowspan="2" style="white-space: nowrap;" align=center|Naval Test Wing Pacific

|Naval Weapons Test Sqdn, Pt Mugu: 8 May 1995 – 1 May 2002 VX-30: 1 May 2002 – present

|NBVC Pt. Mugu

|BH

|VX-31

|center|60px

|Dust Devils

|style="white-space: nowrap;"|F/A-18C/D/E/F, EA-18G, MH-60S

|style="white-space: nowrap;"|Naval Weapons Test Sqdn, China Lake: 8 May 1995 – 1 May 2002 VX-31: 1 May 2002 – present

|NAWS China Lake

|DD

Electronic Attack (VAQ) squadrons

thumb|An EA-18G Growler

The VAQ (V-fixed wing, A-attack, Q-electronic countermeasure) designation was established in 1968 to designate "Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron".

!Carrier Air Wing

!Type Wing

!Squadron lineage

! Station

! Notes

! Tail Code

|VAQ-129

|center|60px

|Vikings

|EA-18G

|rowspan="15" style="white-space: nowrap;"|VAQWINGPAC

|VAH-10: 1 May 1961 – 1 Sep 1970 VAQ-129: 1 Sep 1970–present

|NAS Whidbey Island

|FRS

|NJ

|VAQ-130

|center|60px

|Zappers

|EA-18G

|CVW-3

| VAW-13: 1 Sep 1959 – 1 Oct 1968 VAQ-130: 1 Oct 1968–present

|NAS Whidbey Island

|VAQ-131

|center|60px

|Lancers

|EA-18G

|VP-920: 1 May 1946 – 15 Nov 1946 VP-ML-70: 15 Nov 1946 – Feb 1950 VP-931: Feb 1950 – 4 Feb 1953 VP-57: 4 Feb 1953 – 3 Jul 1956 VAH-4: 3 Jul 1956 – 1 Nov 1968 VAQ-131: 1 Nov 1968–present

|NAS Whidbey Island

|Expeditionary Squadron.