Marine Corps Adds KC-130J Squadron to Support Marine Littoral Regiment

A U.S. Marine Corps KC-130J aircraft assigned to Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 153 prepares to land on Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay, Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Jan. 6, 2023. Jan. 6, 2023. VMGR-153 will formally activate as a KC-130 squadron of Marine Aircraft Group 24, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, on Jan. 13, 2023. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Chandler Stacy)

*******

ARLINGTON, Va. — A new Marine Corps squadron has been activated in Hawaii to enhance mobility of the Corps’ first Marine littoral regiment. Marine Aerial Refueler/Transport Squadron 153 (VMGR-153) was activated at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, in a Jan. 13 ceremony. The squadron is equipped with Lockheed Martin KC-130J Super Hercules tanker/transport aircraft.

The activation of VMGR-153 is one enactment of Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David H. Berger’s Force Design 2030 concept, which is re-aligning the Corps to conduct expeditionary advance base operations inside an adversary’s weapon engagement zone. The Corps is activating three self-deployable, multi-domain Marine littoral regiments (MLRs) to conduct such operations, the first of which — the 3rd MLR — was activated last March. The 12th MLR will be activated this year in Okinawa, Japan.

VMGR-153 brings to four the number of active-component VMGR squadrons in the Corps, three of which — including the new squadron — are positioned to support Marine Forces Pacific, the other two being VMGR-152, based at MCAS Iwakuni, Japan, and VMGR-352, based at MCAS Miramar, California. The fourth squadron, VMGR-252, is based at MCAS Cherry Point, North Carolina.

Until last month, the Marine Corps Reserve also fielded two KC-130J squadrons. VMGR-452 was de-activated Dec. 2 at Stewart Air National Guard Base in New York. Remaining is VMGR-234 at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Texas.