For the first time in nearly three years, the skies above Marine Corps Air Station Miramar will be filled with an assortment of aircraft performing for hundreds of thousands of people this weekend at the Miramar Air Show.
Back this year — outfitted with a new aircraft — are the U.S. Navy Blue Angels, a precision flight demonstration team. The Blue Angels recently traded in their legacy F/A-18A/C/D Hornets for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and received the C-130J Super Hercules logistics support aircraft.The Marine Air-Ground Task Force rehearse with infantry Marines fast roping onto an objective.
Throughout the weekend, the Blue Angels will be seen — or heard — flying overhead across San Diego County as far west as Mission Bay, east as Santee and north as Fallbrook. “Our advantage in technology is being increasingly challenged, so it’s really important that we … take advantage of the emerging technologies that come from local companies right here in San Diego and tap into the enthusiasm and knowledge that we have in some of the local universities so we can put that brainpower to work to develop combat power for the future.”
“The F-35 is just a giant with technology,” said Lt. Col. Michael Patrick Fisher, executive officer of the “Black Knights” of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 314, the first to receive the F-35C Lightning II. “It’s just unbelievable when you look at how much data it can give you and how strong it is on the battlefield.”