VFA-2

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Strike Fighter Squadron Two
VFA-2 Insignia
Active	October 1, 1972
Country	United States
Branch	US Navy
Type	Fighter/Attack
Role	Close air support Air interdiction Aerial reconnaissance
Part of	Carrier Air Wing 2
Garrison/HQ	Naval Air Station Lemoore
Nickname	"Bounty Hunters"
Equipment	F/A-18F Super Hornet
Battles/wars	Iranian Hostage Crisis Operation Desert Storm Operation Southern Watch Operation Enduring Freedom Operation Iraqi Freedom Operation Unified Assistance
Decorations	Battle Efficiency "E"
Commanders
Current commander	Commander John G. Eden
Ceremonial chief	CMDCM Wayne E. Smith

VFA-2 Strike Fighter Squadron 2 (VFA-2) also known as the "Bounty Hunters" is a United States Navy strike fighter squadron based at Naval Air Station Lemoore California.

Originally designated VF-2, the unit was re-established on July 1st, 2003, as VFA-2, to reflect its transition from flying the F-14D Super Tomcat to the F/A-18F Super Hornet. The Bounty Hunters are attached to Carrier Air Wing 2 (CVW-2), a composite unit made up of a wide array of aircraft performing a variety of combat and support missions. The squadron is currently deployed onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72)

1 History
2 See also
3 References
4 External links

[edit] History

An F/A-18 Super Hornet from VFA-2.

On October 1, 1972 the first two F-14 Tomcat squadrons were formed at Miramar Naval Air Station, San Diego. The new squadrons carried the designations VF-1 and VF-2. These numbers were reactivated to receive the Navy's first new fighter plane in 14 years. The last new fighter came on board the Navy in 1958 when the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II was introduced. The operational concept of near-vertical dive bombing of ships was first demonstrated in October 1926, when Fighter Squadron 2 [VF-2] conducted a dramatic simulated attack on the battle fleet in the presence of the U.S. Fleet commander in chief. The new VF-2 commemorated the original squadron's name, though it did not share its lineage.

VF-1 and VF-2 flying the F-14A Tomcat were assigned to USS Ranger (CVA-61) for the September 1980 deployment, four months of which were spent in the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf awaiting the release of the US hostages in Iran.

1993 was a year of transition, when VF-2 transitioned to the F-14D Super Tomcat. Fighter Squadron (VF) 2's first six aircraft arrived at their new home base of Naval Air Station (NAS) Oceana, Va., on 04 April 1996. The VF-2 "Bounty Hunters," winners of the Pacific Fleet's Battle "E" warfare efficiency award for fighter squadrons were the first of five squadrons moving to NAS Oceana from NAS Miramar, CA. The squadron continued to operate with Carrier Air Wing 2, assigned to the San Diego-based aircraft carrier USS Constellation (CV-64). VF-2's F-14D Tomcat fighters are manned by 38 officers and 259 enlisted personnel with an annual payroll of nearly $13 million. Other NAS Miramar squadrons moved to NAS Oceana during the following year with approximately 78 aircraft and more than 1,500 personnel.

An F-14 Tomcat from VF-2.

By April 1997 VF-2 was deployed with the USS Constellation (CV-64), enroute to the Persian Gulf as part of a regularly scheduled six month western Pacific deployment.

The U.S. Navy laid the former 6th Fleet Flagship, USS Belknap (CG-26), to rest September 24, 1998. The 580-foot cruiser was decommissioned February 15, 1995. Since then, the ship had occupied a valuable berth at the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility (NISMF) in Philadelphia, Penn. As in the past, the Navy's solution to the difficult disposal of a large, outdated ship has been to sink it as part of a "War at Sea" training scenario. The scenario for the Belknap was to use air, surface and subsurface firepower to attack the cruiser 150 miles off the coast of Virginia. Fighter Squadron Two (VF-2) "Bounty Hunters," of NAS Oceana in Virginia Beach, Va., led the high profile air-to-ground portion of the mission with 20,000 pounds of live Mk-80 series bombs. While the F-14 Tomcat is capable of dropping precision-guided munitions, Mk-80 series bombs were chosen to show skeptics that the Tomcat is extremely capable of accurately dropping unguided bombs with lethal precision. With authority, the Bounty Hunters, along with VF-41, VF-143 and VF-211 did just that - and it was a spectacular display.

During their 1999 cruise, VF-2 supported Operation Southern Watch and led the way on September 9, when CVW-2 jets attacked Surface-to-Air Missile sites and ant-aircraft guns around Basra. This saw the air wing expend the most ordnance in a single day since Desert Storm. The same day VF-2 almost got their first air-to-air kill with the AIM-54 Phoenix when an F-14D engaged two Iraqi MiG-23’s that were heading south into the No-Fly Zone from Al Taqaddum airbase, west of Baghdad. The missile went into the ground and his wingman, an F/A-18 from VFA-151, was ordered to launch an AIM-7 Sparrow, but the MiGs turned north and headed back once they had detected the Phoenix-launch.

In the summer of 2001, VF-2 went on a new cruise onboard the USS Constellation, taking them to the Persian Gulf enforcing Operation Southern Watch.

During the 2002-2003 cruise, the final cruise with the F-14 Tomcat, VF-2 would participate in Operation Iraqi Freedom, flying 483 sorties and dropping 294 Laser-guided bomb's/JDAM/MK-82 bombs with a 98% sortie completion rate, flying a wide range of missions including, reconnaissance, Close Air Support, Combat Air Patrol and of course bombing missions . Some memorable missions during the war were the attack on the Ministry of Information’s Salman Pak radio relay transmitter facility at Al Hurriyah with JDAM-bombs, and the attack on the Al Taqddum air base during the first mission of the war on March 21. An other memorable mission during the war was when two TARPS-equipped F-14s, armed with two 500-lb MK-82 bombs each, attacked Saddam Hussein’s personal yacht, the Al Mansur (The Victor), which had been attacked in the past by S-3 Vikings and F/A-18 Hornets. The lead conducted the first attack twice and it’s two bombs hit the bow and just forward of amidships. The wingman came in second and dropped bombs, with one hitting the hull just above the waterline and the second bomb disappeared amongst the yacht’s superstructure. The F-14’s did not anticipate to hit a ship but to support ground troops instead, and therefore the bombs were fitted with instantaneous fuses and exploded as soon as they hit the ship, which caused minimal damage.

On October 6, 2003, VFA-2 took delivery of its first F/A-18F Super Hornet. The transition to the new aircrat took only four and a half months, the shortest time ever for a Tomcat to Super Hornet transition. With the USS Constellation (CV-64) being decommissioned, VFA-2 was reassigned to USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) to deploy with CVW-2. They were deployed to the Western Pacific in October of 2004. They returned in March of 2005 after supporting Operation Unified Assistance which provided humanitarian support to Southeast Asia after the tsunami.

As of March 2006, VFA-2 is embarked on USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) as the carrier participates in Reception Staging Onward Movement and Integration and Foal Eagle 2006.