Every Aircraft Currently In U.S. Navy & Marine Corps Service 2026

Together, the US Navy and Marine Corps fly more aircraft than most countries' entire air forces. Here's every aircraft type they have in service right now. One of them is described as the Navy's oldest aircraft, Starting off with combat jets. First up, F/A-18 Hornet. This is the original. The jet that made carrier strike and air combat one airframe back in the 80s. The Navy has moved on, but about 125 legacy jets still fly with Marine squadrons in 2026, flying strike and close air support. Their clock is running though. A May 2026 order stands down every remaining squadron by 2030. Then, F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. In the US Navy and Marine Corps, no combat jet comes close in numbers. The Super Hornet is the backbone of the carrier air wing, handling strike, air defence and tanking for other jets. It also plays the enemy with aggressor squadrons and flies with the Blue Angels. EA-18 G Growler Built on the Super Hornet's airframe, this jet trades bombs for jamming pods. Its job is electronic attack, blinding enemy radars, scrambling communications, and hunting down air defenses so strike aircraft can get through. Some squadrons deploy on carriers, while others fly expeditionary from land bases, ready to move wherever they're needed. F-35 Lightning II Both services are betting their future on this stealth fighter. Marines fly the B model, which takes off short and lands vertically from amphibious ships and rough forward strips. And they're adding carrier-capable C models too. The Navy's own C models fly from carrier decks, slipping into defended airspace first. Cost and readiness remain sore points. Coming up, the machines that haul, hunt and even carry a president. Continuing with helicopters. VH-3D Sea King For decades, this was the helicopter people pictured on the White House lawn. Marine Squadron HMX-1 was still flying it on presidential missions in July 2026, but it is due to retire this year once its successor's new helipad is ready. Few aircraft in the US Navy and Marine Corps have carried such symbolic weight. CH-53E Super Stallion Three engines and a seven-bladed rotor make this the Marines' heavy hauler, lifting artillery, vehicles and troops from ship to shore. About 127 are left in 2026, and years of hard use show in their maintenance demands. A newer model is replacing them through fiscal 2032, so they will keep working for a while yet. MH-53E Sea Dragon This big mine-sweeping helicopter tows sleds through the water to clear shipping lanes of mines. Only one squadron still flies it, with about 18 left, and the type is set to retire completely by the end of 2027. Now this is the VH-60N White Hawk, a smaller presidential helicopter. It's prized for handling hot weather and thin, high-altitude air. That performance is why HMX-1 plans to keep it flying through at least 2030, even as newer aircraft take over most presidential flying. MH-60S Nighthawk. If a sailor goes overboard, this is often the helicopter that comes. Since 2002, it has flown search and rescue, combat rescue, medevac and special warfare support, plus cargo runs between ships. Downed aviators of the US Navy and Marine Corps at sea look for it on the horizon. MH-60R Seahawk. Where its rescue-focused sibling saves lives, this one hunts. Flying from destroyers and carriers since 2006, it carries dipping sonar, sonobuoys, torpedoes and Hellfire missiles to track submarines and strike small surface craft. It's the Navy's frontline anti-submarine helicopter, with about 270 in service. Now this is the UH-1Y Venom. The Marines' do-everything helicopter carries small teams, evacuates wounded, and backs up assaults with machine guns and rockets. It shares the vast majority of its parts with the attack helicopter it flies beside, which eases maintenance aboard crowded ships. Every one on order was delivered by 2018. H1Z Viper Here's that partner and the only purpose-built gunship in US Navy and Marine Corps aviation. Cannon, rockets, hellfires and air-to-air missiles let it protect Marines on the ground and escort assault helicopters. The last of 189 arrived in November 2022 and the H-1 family should keep flying into the 2040s. CH-53K King Stallion Replacing that aging heavy lifter is a bigger, more powerful helicopter with a digital cockpit, built to carry much heavier loads over longer distances. About 25 had reached Marine squadrons by spring 2026, and the first operational deployment is planned for fiscal 2027. Next, VH-92 Patriot, the new face of Marine One. Based on Sikorsky's S-92 commercial helicopter, all 23 were delivered by August 2024, and it first flew the president later that same month. It is steadily replacing both older presidential helicopters, though early trouble with communications and scorched White House grass slowed its debut. Ahead lie planes that hunt submarines and relay nuclear orders. Now, the special mission planes, including one that relays orders to submarines, trailing a wire. Of everything in the US Navy and Marine Corps, this may have the gravest job. Built on the Boeing airliner frame, it trails a wire antenna to relay launch orders to ballistic missile submarines, a mission called TACAMO, for Take Charge and Move Out. It should serve into the 2030s, until a Hercules-based successor takes over. P8, Poseidon. When the Navy needs to find a submarine from the air, this is what it sends. Built on a Boeing airliner, it replaced the Cold War's propeller-driven patrol planes with a jet that flies faster, dropping sonobuoys, torpedoes and anti-ship missiles. It flies from land bases worldwide, often shadowing rival navies in the Western Pacific. E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, the carrier air wing's eyes and traffic controller. Its big rotating radar dome spots aircraft and missiles far beyond what a ship's radar can see, and its crew directs fighters onto threats. The navy still has fewer than it plans to own, and as a slow turboprop, it depends on escorts to survive. Next, the unglamorous planes that move people and parts, with a few surprises. Let's move on to transports. C-130T Hercules. This four-engine turboprop Hercules flies with the US Navy, rushing priority cargo and people to the fleet. Its replacement was running behind schedule in 2025. C-12 Huron. These are military Beechcraft King Airs, the utility hoppers of naval aviation, shuttling people and light cargo between bases. Both services fly them, and the Marines are swapping older models for a newer version based on the King Air 350. C-26 Metroliner A small twin turboprop fleet with odd jobs. Some move passengers, others support the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii, and one teaches students at the Test Pilot School. C-20G Gulfstream IV Mostly gone from the US Navy and Marine Corps, replaced by Boeing jets by 2020, the Gulfstream IV survives in small numbers, still handling test range and transport work. C-37B Gulfstream G550 The Navy's executive jet is a Gulfstream G550, fast and long-legged enough to carry admirals and officials across oceans. Most fly as VIP transports, while one, fitted with special equipment, supports test ranges. Then, UC-35 Citation. The Marine's small business jets fly operational support airlift, moving people and urgent cargo quickly. Older C models have retired, leaving about 10 newer Citation Encores. C-40 Clipper, a Boeing airliner that converts between passengers and cargo. This is the Navy's main logistics jet, flown by reserve squadrons since 2001 when it began replacing the C-9B. The Marines took their first second-hand examples in 2023. KC-130J Super Hercules Few aircraft in the US Navy and Marine Corps pull double duty like this Marine Hercules. It refuels jets and helicopters in flight from the pods under its wings, and it hauls troops and cargo into rough airstrips. Most of the planned fleet had arrived by February 2026. The next one, V-22 Osprey. Taking off like a helicopter and cruising like a plane, the tilt rotor reshaped how Marines move. Their assault version carries troops far inland from ships at speeds no helicopter can match. The Navy's version took over carrier delivery runs after the old Greyhound retired in July 2026. There's a hard side to its story, though. Fatal crashes and groundings have dogged it. Up next, aircraft with no one aboard at all. Now let's look at drones. MQ-9 Reaper The Marines turn to this proven Air Force drone for long-range eyes over sea and shore. Their unmanned squadrons fly an extended range model that can loiter for many hours. And the last aircraft of a rapid buy arrived in June 2025. Listen up! Over 1,500 military kits and block sets, tanks, jets, battleships. Pick yours. Build it at home. Report to buildanarmy.com. MQ-4C Triton. Among US Navy and Marine Corps drones, this is the big one. Unarmed, it cruises high above the weather for hour after hour, watching vast stretches of ocean for the fleet. Navy unmanned patrol squadrons fly it, with deployments in the Western Pacific. Stick around for the jets paid to play the enemy. Now let's look at adversary jets. F-5 Tiger II Small, nimble, and cheap to fly, these Cold War fighters now spend their days pretending to be the enemy. Adversary squadrons in both services use them to sharpen fighter pilots in mock dogfights, and many came second-hand from Switzerland. Their age shows, though, they can't fully copy a modern threat's sensors. Next, F-16 Fighting Falcon. The Navy never bought this fighter for combat, yet it now flies about 40 as adversaries. Some were built for Pakistan, but caught by an embargo, and the rest came from the Air Force in 2022. More capable than older aggressor jets, they give Navy pilots a tougher sparring partner at Falun, Nevada. Then come the aircraft that turned beginners into aviators. Continuing with trainers, T-44 Pegasus. For nearly half a century, this twin turboprop has taught US Navy and Marine Corps pilots multi-engine flying at Corpus Christi. Since 2025, it has been bowing out as its replacement arrives. T-45 Goshawk Student pilots make their first carrier landings in this jet. Derived from Britain's Hawk, it is toughened for carrier landings and also trains future weapons officers. It's aging, though, and oxygen and engine problems have grounded it before. T-6 Texan II Nearly every naval aviator's career starts in this turboprop. Student pilots learn the basics in the T6B, while older A-models train naval flight officers, the crew members who run weapons and sensors. It's simple and forgiving, which is exactly the point. TH-73 Thrasher US Navy and Marine Corps helicopter students learn to hover in this nimble machine. Picked in 2020 to replace the old Sea Ranger trainer, it first reached Whiting Field in Florida in 2021. T-54 Marlin II. Built on the Beechcraft King Air, this twin turboprop trainer is a modern addition to the fleet. It reached initial operational capability in May 2025. Last up, the fleet's strangest corner. Finally, we have test aircraft. These rugged, decades-old Canadian bush planes still earn their keep at the Navy's test pilot school. Students use them to explore how an aircraft handles at very low speed, and they double as tow planes for the school's gliders. NU-1B Otter In the whole US Navy and Marine Corps lineup, this is a genuine relic, often called the oldest aircraft the Navy flies. A de Havilland Otter bush plane, it shows test pilot school students at Patuxent River how short take-off aircraft handle, lumbering aloft in remarkably little space. T-38 Talon. The Air Force made this supersonic trainer famous, but the Navy keeps a small group of its own, mostly at the Test Pilot School in Maryland. Students use the sleek jet to study high-speed handling and performance. P-3 Orion. The Cold War's great submarine hunter is almost gone. With the Naval Research Laboratory's NP-3C retired in September, 2026, the Navy's last examples serve with a test squadron at Point Mugu, California, supporting missile tests over the Pacific range. Its frontline days ended years ago when a jet took over. X-26 Frigate. Few Navy aircraft are this quiet. It's a military Schweizer sailplane with no engine at all. Towed aloft by a bush plane, it teaches test pilot students to judge flying qualities without power muddying the picture. UV-18 Twin Otter. Few aircraft in the US Navy and Marine Corps fly purely for science. Since 2019, a Naval Research Laboratory squadron has flown this lone example as a cheap, slow, airborne lab. Up next, T-34C, Turbo Mentor. For decades, Navy student pilots learned the basics in this turboprop. A newer trainer has taken that job, but a small fleet hangs on at Patuxent River and the Strike Fighter schools, flying as spotters and test support aircraft. TH-67 Creek Army flight students stopped training in these small helicopters in 2021, but a few live on at the Naval Test Pilot School, teaching rotary wing flying qualities and test procedures. C-38 Courier A business jet earns its US Navy and Marine Corps place in testing. Since 2015, two have flown as chase planes and radar targets for P-8, Hawkeye and Triton trials. The next one, UH-72, Lakota. Arriving at the Naval Test Pilot School around 2009, this twin-engine helicopter replaced the TH-6B Cayuse and gave the school its first glass cockpit and hingeless rotor. Want to support the channel? Click JOIN to help me keep making videos.