3rd Marine Aircraft Wing

U.S. Marines with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 211, Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 21, prepare to load a Guided Bomb Unit 12 into an F-35B Lightning II aboard HMS Queen Elizabeth in Sixth Fleet area of operations on June 18th, 2021. Alongside the United Kingdom’s 617 Squadron, VMFA-211 is conducting combat sorties in support of Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR), the first combat operations launched from HMS Queen Elizabeth. OIR is the operation to eliminate the ISIL terrorist group and the threat they pose to Iraq, Syria, and the wider international community.