While deployed in August 1981, VAW-125 participated in Freedom of Navigation (FON) Operations & Open Ocean Missile (OOM) Exercise in the Central Mediterranean Sea[4] and Gulf of Sitra,[5] during which two Libyan MiGs were destroyed after attacking Battle Group aircraft.

On September 12, VAW-125 and USS Forrestal transited the Suez Canal and operated in the North Arabian Sea for 33 days, returning to the Mediterranean on October 17 and conducting a final port call to Alexandria, Egypt.

During this deployment VAW-125 Sailors enjoyed port calls to Naples, Italy; Barcelona, Benidorm, Malaga, and Palma de Mallorca, Spain; Toulon, France; and Tunis, Tunisia.

While on a routine deployment in October 1985, the squadron assisted in the successful intercept of the Egyptian airliner carrying the hijackers of the Italian cruise ship, MS Achille Lauro.

Squadron aircrew spoke directly to the hijackers, convincing them that the communications were coming from the two VF-103 AND VF-74 F-14s on their wing and persuading the airliner to divert into NAS Sigonella, Sicily.

[1] Within hours of the September 11 attacks, squadron personnel were embarked at sea, leaving NS Norfolk to deploy on USS George Washington to support Operation Noble Eagle.

Squadron aircraft flew numerous command and control missions in the New York City vicinity in the days following the attacks as commercial air traffic slowly resumed.

In January 2010, the squadron was deployed to Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in support of Operation Unified Response providing humanitarian assistance following the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

The squadron flew missions to provide communications relay, command and control, and general airborne radar services allowing forces afloat and ashore to distribute thousands of tons of rations, water, and medical supplies.

[9] In March 2015, the squadron departed with USS Theodore Roosevelt to the Middle East as part the first deployment of Naval Integrated Fire Control-Counter Air (NIFC-CA) Carrier Strike Group.