U.S. Marine Corps to retire last AV-8B Harrier II jet in June 2026 as F-35B takes over.

The US Marine Corps will retire the AV-8B Harrier in June 2026 after the final VMA-223 deployment aboard USS Iwo Jima, before transitioning its aviation fleet to 205 F-35B STOVL fighters.

On February 10, 2026, the U.S. Marine Corps confirmed in its 2026 Aviation Plan that the AV-8B Harrier II will retire from operational service in June 2026. Marine Attack Squadron VMA-223 will conduct the final deployment aboard USS Iwo Jima with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, culminating in a final flight at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point on June 3, 2026. Remaining aircraft will support Marine Air Wing tasking through Fiscal Year 2026 before divestment as personnel transition to the F-35B, as part of a planned USMC fleet of 205 F-35B and 56 F-35C aircraft by the end of 2026.
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The AV-8B participated in Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm in 1991, flying 3,380 sorties totaling 4,083 flight hours with mission capable rates above 90%, operating with an average surge turnaround time of 23 minutes. (Picture source: USMC)

The AV-8B Harrier II V/STOL ground-attack aircraft will retire from operational service in June 2026, with Marine Attack Squadron VMA-223 conducting the final deployment aboard USS Iwo Jima as part of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit and a sundown ceremony scheduled at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, from June 1 to June 5, 2026, culminating in a final flight on June 3, 2026. Remaining aircraft at Cherry Point will continue supporting Marine Expeditionary Force and Marine Air Wing tasking through Fiscal Year 2026 before divestment. Personnel from the Harrier community are transitioning primarily to the F-35B Lightning II, as by the end of 2026, the Marine Corps plans to field 205 F-35B and 56 F-35C aircraft within a total program of record of 420 F-35s.

Both the AV-8B Harrier II and the F-35B Lightning II provide short takeoff and vertical landing capability, enabling operations from amphibious assault ships and expeditionary airfields, but the Harrier II was designed primarily as a light attack aircraft optimized for close air support and forward basing, relying on external stores and podded targeting systems such as Litening and Link-16 integration added later in service. The F-35B incorporates low observable shaping, internal weapons carriage for reduced radar signature, and an integrated sensor suite including AESA radar, distributed aperture sensors, and advanced electro-optical targeting systems fused into a single cockpit display. This architecture allows detection, tracking, and engagement of air and surface targets at longer ranges and with reduced reliance on external pods. The F-35B is designed to operate inside modern integrated air defense environments where survivability requirements exceed those of the threat landscape faced during much of the Harrier’s service life.

In performance and weapons terms, the F-35B achieves speeds up to approximately 1,960 km/h, nearly twice the Harrier’s maximum of 1,070 km/h, and its Pratt & Whitney F135 engine produces significantly more thrust than the Harrier’s Rolls-Royce Pegasus engine, contributing to a higher maximum takeoff weight and overall performance envelope. Additionally, the F-35B’s larger airframe and stronger engine give it significantly greater payload capacity, enabling it to carry more fuel and ordnance than the AV-8B, which carries up to 5,988 kg of external stores. The F-35B incorporates low-observable design features, including radar-absorbent materials and minimized radar cross-section, making it far harder for modern air defenses to detect and target. In contrast, the Harrier was designed in an era when radar saturation and modern surface-to-air missile systems were less prevalent, and it lacks any stealth shaping or significant radar signature reduction. Finally, the Harrier, originally designed for close air support and limited strike missions, cannot match the F-35B’s versatility or breadth of mission sets, which is capable of executing air-to-air, air-to-ground, and electronic attack missions with equal competence.

The AV-8B Harrier II originated from the British Hawker Siddeley Harrier, a vertical and/or short take-off and landing (V/STOL) aircraft first flown in 1967 and introduced into Royal Air Force service in 1969, with the U.S. Marine Corps adopting the AV-8A variant in January 1971. In the mid-1970s, McDonnell Douglas and British Aerospace initiated development of a substantially redesigned aircraft to improve payload, range, and avionics. The YAV-8B first flew on November 9, 1978, followed by the first production AV-8B on November 5, 1981, with U.S. Marine Corps operational service beginning in January 1985. The redesign included a new wing, structural changes, and updated systems rather than incremental modification of the AV-8A. U.S. production reached 280 aircraft plus attrition replacements, contributing to a total second-generation Harrier production of 433 aircraft across U.S., British, Spanish, and Italian programs. Later U.S. variants included the AV-8B Night Attack, introduced from the 167th airframe onward, and the AV-8B Plus equipped with the AN/APG-65 radar.

The AV-8B design incorporated a supercritical composite wing with 14.5% greater surface area and 20% greater span than the AV-8A, enabling increased fuel and ordnance carriage. The airframe used extensive carbon fiber composites to reduce structural weight and increase fatigue life. The propulsion system consists of a single Rolls-Royce Pegasus turbofan with four swiveling exhaust nozzles that vector thrust for vertical or short takeoff and landing operations, supported by reaction control valves for low-speed attitude control. The cockpit was redesigned with improved visibility and hands-on-throttle-and-stick controls, and later variants integrated forward-looking infrared sensors and compatibility with night vision equipment. The AV-8B Plus added a radar housed in a forward radome, enabling employment of radar-guided air-to-air and anti-ship weapons. The aircraft mounts a GAU-12 Equalizer 25 mm rotary cannon with 300 rounds in a ventral pod and supports up to six underwing pylons for mixed ordnance configurations.

In technical terms, the AV-8B Harrier II has a length of 14.12 meters, wingspan of 9.25 meters, height of 3.55 meters, and wing area of 22.61 square meters. Maximum takeoff weight is 14,060 kg, with internal fuel capacity of 3,519 kg and up to 7,180 kg with external tanks. External payload capacity reaches 5,988 kg across six pylons. Maximum speed is 1,083 km/h, service ceiling 15,240 meters, rate of climb 4,485 meters per minute, and combat radius approximately 1,000 km depending on load and profile, with endurance up to 3 hours. Engine variants progressed from the F402-RR-404 to the F402-RR-406 rated at 95.42 kN of thrust and later to the F402-RR-408 producing up to 98.1 kN or about 105 kN in certain configurations. Compatible weapons have included AIM-9 Sidewinder, AIM-120 AMRAAM on radar-equipped variants, AGM-65 Maverick, AGM-84 Harpoon, AGM-88 HARM, Mark 80 series bombs, Paveway laser-guided bombs, and Joint Direct Attack Munitions.

Operators of the AV-8B Harrier II have included the United States Marine Corps, the Spanish Navy, the Italian Navy, and the United Kingdom through British-built GR.5, GR.7, GR.9, and T.6 variants, with British service ending in 2010 and most aircraft sold to the United States for spare parts recovery. Spain has operated EAV-8B and EAV-8B Plus aircraft from Príncipe de Asturias and later Juan Carlos I, while Italy has operated AV-8B Plus aircraft from Giuseppe Garibaldi and Cavour. The U.S. Marine Corps has fielded single-seat AV-8B variants and the two-seat TAV-8B trainer, with final depot overhauls completed in 2023 and program-level support scheduled to conclude in 2025. Spain plans to retain its Harriers until 2028, while Italy is transitioning to the F-35B.

In 1996, a civilian nearly became a nominal “operator” after a famous Pepsi promotional campaign in which the AV-8B Harrier II appeared as the final reward item, labeled “Harrier Jet – 7,000,000 Pepsi Points.” A business student, John Leonard, calculated that Pepsi Points could be purchased for $0.10 each under the promotion’s rules, meaning 7,000,000 points would cost $700,000. He submitted a check for that amount along with the required order form, attempting to claim the Harrier jet, valued at about $37.4 million at the time the ad aired, leading to the Leonard v. PepsiCo legal case that clarified the advertisement as nonbinding.

Operationally, with the U.S. Marine Corps, the AV-8B participated in Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm in 1991, flying 3,380 sorties totaling 4,083 flight hours with mission capable rates above 90%, operating from expeditionary airfields and amphibious assault ships, and basing as close as 35 nautical miles from the Kuwait border with average surge turnaround times of 23 minutes. The aircraft subsequently operated in Kosovo, Afghanistan, including losses of six aircraft and damage to two during a 2012 attack on a base, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and the Red Sea region, supporting operations including Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, Inherent Resolve, Resolute Support, and Southern Spear. Missions included close air support, armed reconnaissance, helicopter escort, air defense, and maritime strike while embarked aboard amphibious assault ships as part of Marine Expeditionary Units. As VMA-223 completes the final deployment and the fleet transitions fully to the F-35B, the AV-8B concludes more than four decades of U.S. Marine Corps fixed-wing vertical and short takeoff combat operations.

Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.