AUGUST 2--The Commandant of the Marine Corps announced that the twelve Marine Corps fighter/attack squadrons would remain an all F-4 Phantom force until their replacement by F-18 aircraft beginning in the early 1980s.

The Marine Corps was originally scheduled to be equipped with four squadrons of the F-14 Tomcats. The four squadrons of Tomcats originally planned for the Marines would be used to transition four Navy fighter squadrons from Phantoms  to F-14, thus retaining the authorized eighteen-squadron Navy force for overall air defense.