VAW-77

On 18 November 1995, VAW-77 was commissioned, as a Reserve Squadron serving with the US Coast Guard and other Federal Agencies to fight the war on drugs, providing sophisticated air surveillance on traffic off the southern coast of the United States. The squadron worked in tandem with Coast Guard and other federal law enforcement agencies to combine and coordinate operations of counter-narcotics forces. The E-2C Hawkeye squadron deploys four to five times a year to bases near known drug trafficking routes to help identify suspected drug smugglers. The squadron spends approximately four to five months per year forward deployed to bases near illegal drug traffic lanes.[1]

After Hurricane Floyd hit in late 1999, VAW-77 and VAW-78 provided communication, command and control (C3) support to U.S. Coast Guard, Air Force, Army aircraft, and C-130 for humanitarian relief and flood evacuation operations in Virginia, North and South Carolina. When flooding began in Virginia and North Carolina near the Tar River, VAW-77 and VAW-78 initially supported Search and Rescue operations over the drill weekend.[2]

Since commissioning, the Nightwolves have completed a number of sixty-day counter-drug deployments to the Caribbean Theater. VAW-77 deployed primarily to NS Roosevelt Roads until the Naval Station ceased active operations in October 2003 prior to its inactivation on March 31, 2004. VAW-77 continues to operate out of Howard AFB, Patrick AFB, Comalapa AFB, Coast Guard Air Station Borinquen, Manta Air Force Base, and Hato International Airport. Squadron aircraft have been involved in over 120 high-profile arrests and seizures of drug carrying container ships, high-speed watercraft, and light civilian aircraft. In fact, the mere presence of the Nightwolves in the Caribbean has caused drug traffickers to change their tactics in order to avoid detection by VAW-77 aircraft.[1]

In 2005 the squadron participated in the federal military response to Katrina in 2005.[2]

E-2C VAW-77 taking off Joint Base Andrews May 2010

In August 2008, VAW-77 moved to its new home of NAS JRB New Orleans in response to BRAC's decision to close Naval Air Station Atlanta.[1]

The squadron was the first U.S. Navy fixed-wing squadron to deploy to Colombia in 2011, also in 2012, it had a role in disrupting the flow of $735 million in illegal drugs into the U.S. and the arrest of 17 international smugglers.[2]

Because of spending cuts throughout the Department of Defense, the unit was recommended for deactivation by the Secretary of the Navy. In February 2013, the Nightwolves were formally disbanded, and its crew & equipment were in the process of being redistributed throughout other naval squadrons.[2] VAW-77 was deactivated[3] on 9 March 2013. The squadron's six aircraft were transferred to other carrier airborne warning squadrons and the squadron members were transfer to various other Commander Naval Air Force Reserve (CNAFR) squadrons.[4]