1970s In December 1976, Vice Admiral
Howard E. Greer,
COMNAVAIRLANT, presented VAW-125 with the COMNAVAIRLANT
Battle "E" for readiness, the
CINCLANTFLT "Golden Anchor" Award for career retention, and the
CNO Safety "S" Award. VAW-125 is believed to be the first Navy unit to win all three awards in the same year. On 14 January 1978, the squadron suffered the loss of an aircraft (
BuNo 159107) and the deaths of three aviators. In June, VAW-125 took the E-2C's newest weapons system upgrade, the Advanced
Radar Processing System (ARPS), to sea for the first time. The squadron then assigned to
Carrier Air Wing Seventeen (CVW-17) in November 1979, with the squadron making their eighth
Mediterranean Sea deployment, this time aboard .
1980s While deployed in August 1981, VAW-125 participated in
Freedom of Navigation (FON) Operations & Open Ocean Missile (OOM) Exercise in the Central Mediterranean Sea and
Gulf of Sitra, during which
two Libyan MiGs were destroyed after attacking Battle Group aircraft. Upon return from deployment, the squadron provided range control services for the second launch of the
NASA space shuttle,
STS-2, and detection and monitoring services in the first E-2C Counter-Drug tasking, Operation Thunderbolt. VAW-125, under the command of CDR Charles "Chuck" Saffell, embarked with CVW-17 in USS Forrestal on June 8, 1982, deploying to the Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean. VAW-125 conducted flight operations in the Western Mediterranean on June 24 with aircraft from four carrier air wings in OPERATION DAILY DOUBLE, the first time four U.S. aircraft carriers operated simultaneously in the Mediterranean (USS Forrestal, USS Independence, USS America, and USS John F. Kennedy). Following the exercise, VAW-125 and USS Forrestal proceeded to the Eastern Mediterranean and supported U.S. and United Nations operations in Lebanon, for which Sailors and Marines of the USS Forrestal and USS Independence Battle Groups were awarded the Navy Expeditionary Medal. During this period, Sailors from VAW-125 conducted port calls to Naples, Italy, and Benidorm, Spain. On September 12, VAW-125 and USS Forrestal transited the Suez Canal and operated in the North Arabian Sea for 33 days, returning to the Mediterranean on October 17 and conducting a final port call to Alexandria, Egypt. VAW-125 then returned to the waters off Lebanon for their last line period, prior to returning to the U.S. on November 16, 1982. VAW-125 and CVW-17 cross-decked to USS Saratoga in 1983, supporting the aircraft carrier as it conducted a number of exercises off the U.S. East Coast. VAW-125 deployed under the command of CDR John Ogle on April 2, 1984, to the Mediterranean Sea aboard USS Saratoga. During this deployment VAW-125 Sailors enjoyed port calls to Naples, Italy; Barcelona, Benidorm, Malaga, and Palma de Mallorca, Spain; Toulon, France; and Tunis, Tunisia. VAW-125 returned to Naval Station Norfolk October 19-20, 1984. While on a routine deployment in October 1985, the squadron assisted in the successful intercept of the Egyptian airliner carrying the
hijackers of the Italian cruise ship, MS Achille Lauro. Squadron aircrew spoke directly to the hijackers, convincing them that the communications were coming from the two
VF-103 AND
VF-74 F-14s on their wing and persuading the airliner to divert into
NAS Sigonella, Sicily. From January to March 1986, the squadron participated in "Freedom of Navigation" operations off the coast of Libya which escalated with the
Action in the Gulf of Sidra in March. In January 1994, the squadron deployed aboard USS
Saratoga for her final cruise. During the deployment, the squadron joined
NATO forces flying in support of Operations
Deny Flight and
Provide Promise. The squadron conducted operational tests of the Navy's newest Mini-DAMA Satellite Communication Suite, using this new system, the squadron, for the first time, functioned as an Airborne Battlefield Command and Control Center (ABCCC). With the decommissioning of USS
Saratoga, VAW-125 and CVW-17 were deployed aboard . After completing a two-month Counter-Drug assignment at
NS Roosevelt Roads, the squadron deployed to the Mediterranean Sea aboard USS
Enterprise in June 1996. In July, the squadron again joined NATO forces in the former
Yugoslavia, this time in support of
Operation Joint Endeavor. In September, USS
Enterprise moved to respond to mounting tensions in Southwest Asia, supporting
Operation Southern Watch over the next three months. Squadron pilots earned the CVW-17 "Top Hook" Award for carrier landing performance and the squadron was recognized for its achievements in 1996, being awarded the COMNAVAIRLANT Battle Efficiency Award, the CNO Safety Award, and the VAW community's AEW Excellence Award. In March 2015, the squadron departed with to the Middle East as part the first deployment of
Naval Integrated Fire Control-Counter Air (NIFC-CA) Carrier Strike Group. On 2 February 2017, VAW-125 arrived at
Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni,
Japan. It replaced
VAW-115 in
Carrier Air Wing Five aboard the aircraft carrier . The squadron made its first deployment aboard
Ronald Reagan from 16 May to 9 August 2017. CVW-5 was reassigned to
George Washington when it replaced
Ronald Reagan in Japan on 22 November 2024.
2020s ==Deployments and awards==