VX-9

Not every Harrier squadron went to sea. Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 9, the Vampires of China Lake, Calif., is the Navy’s operational test squadron for strike and fighter aircraft, and for years its job included the AV-8B Harrier II: taking new weapons, sensors and software and flying them the way the fleet would before Marine squadrons took them to war. Its Harrier roots run back through its predecessor, VX-5, which had an AV-8A at China Lake by 1979.

Quick Facts

Nickname: Vampires

Harrier years: AV-8A with predecessor VX-5 by 1979; AV-8B with VX-9 from the 1990s until the Harrier’s final updates in the 2020s

Aircraft: AV-8A Harrier (as VX-5) and AV-8B Harrier II, alongside the squadron’s Hornets, Super Hornets, Prowlers, Growlers and Marine helicopters

Home base: Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, Calif.

Parent units: Commander, Operational Test and Evaluation Force (COMOPTEVFOR)

Tail code: XE

Distinction: The Navy’s operational test squadron for air-to-ground and air-to-air weapons, sensors, electronic warfare systems and mission software

Today: Still active at China Lake, testing the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, EA-18G Growler and F-35C Lightning II

The Harrier Years

1951 — Air Development Squadron 5 (VX-5), the future VX-9, is commissioned on June 18 at NAS Moffett Field, Calif.

1956 — VX-5 moves to China Lake.

1979 — In November, AV-8A Harrier BuNo 158387 is transferred to VX-5 at China Lake.

1993 — In June, the Chief of Naval Operations directs the consolidation of VX-4 at Point Mugu and VX-5 at China Lake into a single operational test squadron, VX-9.

1994 — VX-4 is disestablished on September 30, and its assets pass to VX-9.

2000 — VX-9 counts 28 aircraft, the AV-8B Harrier among them.

2006 — AV-8B BuNo 164121, side number XE-752, is on the Vampires’ flight line at Armitage Field in November.

2020s — VX-9 operational testers work alongside the developmental testers of VX-31 on the Harrier’s final upgrades, including JSOW integration and APKWS laser-guided rockets.

2025 — Former VX-9 Harrier BuNo 165579 goes on display at Castle Air Museum in July. On September 23, VX-31 flies the last Harrier test sortie at China Lake.

The Mission

Operational test. Developmental testers prove that a new weapon or software load works as designed. VX-9’s job comes next: operational test and evaluation of air-to-ground and air-to-air weapons, sensors, electronic warfare systems and mission software upgrades, flown under realistic conditions to tell the fleet whether a system is ready for combat. For the Harrier community, that made China Lake one of the last stops before new capability reached Marine attack squadrons.

Hand in hand with VX-31. In the Harrier’s final years, developmental test at VX-31 and operational test at VX-9 worked together on the jet’s last upgrades. Maj. Alec “Cosmo” Rackish, VX-31’s AV-8B project officer, has described how inputs from the fleet drove JSOW integration for the AV-8B and the Harrier’s ability to employ APKWS rockets.

Fleet jets. The squadron’s Harriers came from and went back to the fleet. BuNo 165579, now at Castle Air Museum in Atwater, Calif., served with VMA-311 “Tomcats,” flew combat operations in the Middle East and was later assigned to VX-9 at China Lake. By the time it retired it had logged 791 combat hours.