VX-31 ‘Dust Devils’ is a squadron that operates out of sight,
but performs some of the most important duties when it
comes to fl eet capabilities.REPORT
Gert KromhoutN
AVAL AIR WEAPONS Station
(NAWS) China Lake is one of
those bases in the US that
conjures up a real feeling
of secrecy. Tucked away
in a remote corner of the
Mojave Desert adjacent to the town
of Ridgecrest, teams of contractors,
deployed squadrons and based personal
quietly go about their business. China
Lake is — and has always been — about
furthering the capabilities of the US
Navy’s weapons systems.
VX-31 ‘Dust Devils’ is the centerpiece of
this e ort and is probably the least known
of the three fast jet air test and evaluation
(VX) squadrons of the US Navy. That
re ects the fact that it has an important,
yet predominantly secret, mission to ful ll.
Previously known as Naval Weapons Test
Squadron China Lake, VX-31 ‘Dust Devils’
is populated with test pilots and ight test
engineers, all of whom perform research,
development, test and evaluation (RDT&E)70 October 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net