combat aircraft

Screaming down a remote valley to hit a target with precision,

banging down on a carrier deck, engaging fighters at range —

VX-9 ‘Vampires’ ensures that fleet units get just what they need

in terms of new ‘kit’.

REPORT Kedar Karmarkar

I

T’S NO COINCIDENCE that Air

Test and Evaluation Squadron

(AIRTEVRON) Nine (VX-9) is

stationed alongside VX-31 at

Naval Air Weapons Station

(NAWS) China Lake. The two

work closely together, albeit with very

diferent mandates. VX-9 is part of the

Operational Test and Evaluation Force

(OPTEVFOR), tasked with realistic testing

and evaluation of naval aviation systems

and weapons that are to be ielded to

operational units.

VX-9 ‘Vampires’ specializes in providing

the operational litmus test for F/A-18C/D

Hornets, F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and

EA-18G Growlers. In addition, VX-9 Det

Edwards is an embedded element of the

Joint Operational Test Team (JOTT) for the

F-35C, although geographically separated

from the main China Lake operation.

Whereas VX-31 is geared towards the

developmental test (DT) side of things

— working closely with various vendor

engineers to ensure systems meet design

speciications and are safe to ly — VX-9

is the side that plunges new ‘kit’ into

stringent operational scenarios using

clearly deined tactics. The ‘Vampires’ ly

airframes that are representative of those

lown by the leet without the type of

specialist instrumentation modiications

found on the ‘Dust Devils’ jets.

Above: A fabulous

shot of the VX-9

commander’s

F/A-18E flying on a

test mission near

NAWS China Lake.

Kedar Karmarkar

76 October 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net