The Fighting Marlins of Patrol Squadron (VP) 40 recently took part in the USS John C. Stennis Strike Group Under Sea Warfare
Exercise (USWEX) out of Kadena Air Base, Japan. 
One of the largest exercises in recent years, the exercise was conducted overseas in the 7th Fleet area of responsibility. The
event took place off the coast of Okinawa and included participants from the Stennis strike group, forward deployed naval
forces from CTF-70, maritime patrol forces from CTF-72, three surface ships, three submarines as well as three P-3 aircrews
from the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF). 
The Fighting Marlins, along with VP-5, VP-8, VP-9, VP-47 and maintainers from Consolidated Maintenance Organizations (CMO) 2,
10 and 11, formed a combined detachment under the leadership of Commander, Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing 2, encompassing
sixteen combat aircrews and eight P-3s. They provided continuous 24-hour operational support to the Strike Group throughout the
exercise and stood ready alerts able to react to any potential real world events.
The exercise spanned over five days of around-the-clock operations including several weeks of joint planning with the Strike Group,
who was en-route to their six-month Western Pacific (WESTPAC) deployment.
With an average of three planes airborne at any given time during the exercise, the maintainers tirelessly worked to have aircraft available
for real world events including the numerous scheduled exercise events.  As expected, they answered the challenge, launching fifty-one
sorties of the fifty-two scheduled over the course of the exercise.
For the Combat aircrews from VP-40 the exercise provided invaluable “real world” experience in a dynamic and fast paced environment.
The crews successfully balanced the high operational demands and minimum turn-around times without missing a beat. In the condensed
time span of the exercise, the detachment amassed just over three hundred flight hours.
The four Marlin aircrews flew over one hundred hours during sixteen events, which accounted for one-third of the total flight time.  They
were directly responsible for seven of the fifteen simulated submarine kills by maritime patrol forces during the exercise, highlighting the
ASW operational capabilities of the VP Community.
The success of the strike group laid the foundation for future major exercises within 7th Fleet.