Marine Fighter Training Squadron 401 (VMFT-401) is 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 c ...

Reserve fighter squadron flying the F-5N Tiger II. Known as the "Snipers", the squadron is the only adversary squadron in the Marine Corps, also is the first and only reserve squadron in the Marine Corps tasked to act as the opposing force in simulated air combat. They are based at

Marine Corps Air Station Yuma Marine Corps Air Station Yuma or MCAS Yuma is a United States Marine Corps air station. It is the home of multiple squadrons of F-35B Lightning IIs of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron 1 (MAWTS-1), Mar ...

and fall under the command of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing and Marine Aircraft Group 41. VMFT-401 is a non-deployable unit.

Mission

Provide instruction to active and reserve Fleet Marine Forces and Fleet squadrons through dissimilar air combat training (DACT). The majority of VMFT-401's annual workload is their work-up and participation in the semiannual Weapons and Tactics Instructor (WTI) course conducted by Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One (MAWTS-1) at MCAS Yuma, Arizona. They provide adversary work in Offensive Anti-Air Warfare and Anti Air Warfare exercises during this training evolution. They also help train new Marine

F/A-18 Hornet The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is an all-weather, twin-engine, supersonic, carrier-capable, multirole combat aircraft, designed as both a fighter and attack aircraft (hence the F/A designation). Designed by McDonnell Douglas (now pa ...

pilots that are assigned to VMFAT-101 at

Marine Corps Air Station Miramar Marine Corps Air Station Miramar (MCAS Miramar) , formerly Naval Auxiliary Air Station (NAAS) Miramar and Naval Air Station (NAS) Miramar, is a United States Marine Corps installation that is home to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, which is the av ...

History

Marine Fighter Training Squadron 401 (VMFT-401) was activated on March 18, 1986 at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona. In June 1987 the squadron received a number of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i F-21A Kfirs and during that year logged more than 4,000 hours of flight time during 16 major exercises. In 1989, they transitioned to the

F-5E Tiger II The Northrop F-5 is a family of supersonic light fighter aircraft initially designed as a privately funded project in the late 1950s by Northrop Corporation. There are two main models, the original F-5A and F-5B Freedom Fighter variants and the ...

which they still use. Following the inactivation of

Marine Aircraft Group 46 Marine Aircraft Group 46 (MAG-46) was a United States Marine Corps reserve aviation group based at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California with subordinate units spread throughout California. It previously composed of one adversary squadro ...

in June 2009, VMFT-401 transitioned under Marine Aircraft Group 41. The squadron was recognized by the

Commandant of the Marine Corps The commandant of the Marine Corps (CMC) is normally the highest-ranking officer in the United States Marine Corps and is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Joint Chiefs of Staff: composition; functions. The CMC reports directly to the secr ...

for flying more than 50,000 mishap-free flight hours. They broke the 50,000 hour mark in early July 2010 having not had a mishap since October 1995. At an average of 45 minutes per flight, 50,000 hours equates to nearly 70,000 mishap free sorties.Snipers on point: CMC recognizes 401 safety
/ref> F-5 from VMFT-401 at the Miramar Airshow 3 Oct 2008

F-5 from VMFT-401 at the Miramar Airshow 3 Oct 2008

Other U.S. adversary units

* TOPGUN *

NSAWC The Naval Aviation Warfighting Development Center (NAWDC, pronounced NAW-DIK) was formerly known as the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center (NSAWC, pronounced "EN-SOCK") at Naval Air Station Fallon located in the city of Fallon in western Nevad ...

VFC-12 Fighter Squadron Composite Twelve (VFC-12) ''Fighting Omars'' is a United States Navy Reserve fighter squadron based at NAS Oceana. It provides adversary training to East Coast Navy air wings. VFC-12 reports to Tactical Support Wing, a component ...

VFC-13 Fighter Squadron Composite (VFC-13) ''Fighting Saints'' is a US Navy fighter squadron that provides adversary training for U.S. Navy air wings at NAS Fallon, Nevada. VFC-13 uses "Bogey" as its main radio callsign. Mission VFC-13 provides ad ...

* VFC-111 * VFA-204

References

: ;Web * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vmft-401 Military units and formations in Arizona Fighter squadrons of the United States Marine Corps 4th Marine Aircraft Wing Training squadrons of the United States Marine Corps

Mission

History

Other U.S. adversary units

See also

References