Naval Air Station Oceana Fleet Defenders

Since 1950, US Navy fleet defender (fighter) squadrons--home-based at Naval Air Station (NAS) Oceana in Virginia Beach, Virginia--have served as a vital part of the country's national defense and helped to exert global US naval firepower. Over the years, NAS Oceana-based fleet defender squadrons have participated in combat during the Korean, Vietnam, and Persian Gulf Wars and in military incidents and conflicts in Libya as well as Kosovo and Afghanistan. During the Cold War, NAS Oceana-based fleet defender squadrons served as crucial deterrents to the Soviet Union's acts of aggression and provocation. More recently, NAS Oceana-based fleet defender squadrons have been highly engaged in the ongoing War on Terrorism, striking Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) targets in Iraq and Syria and Taliban targets in Afghanistan. Today, these squadrons stand ready to defend the United States, its naval fleets, and its interests abroad.

Mark A. Chambers works as a technical writer for Huntington Ingalls Industries/Newport News Shipbuilding in Newport News, Virginia. He is the author of five Arcadia Publishing titles--Flight Research at NASA Langley Research Center, Naval Air Station Patuxent River, NASA Kennedy Space Center, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, and Naval Air Station Norfolk.