These are just great images, I don’t care who you are.
231127-N-VX009-1006 CHINA LAKE, Calif. (Nov. 27, 2023) An F/A-18F Super Hornet assigned to the “Vampires” of Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Nine (VX-9), and a U-2 Dragonlady fly over Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake. VX-9 is charged with the testing and evaluation of weapons and their related systems in direct support of the United States Naval Aviation Fleet. (U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Jonathan Newbery)
231127-N-VX009-1004 CHINA LAKE, Calif. (Nov. 27, 2023) An F/A-18F Super Hornet assigned to the “Vampires” of Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Nine (VX-9), and a U-2 Dragonlady fly over Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake. VX-9 is charged with the testing and evaluation of weapons and their related systems in direct support of the United States Naval Aviation Fleet. (U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Jonathan Newbery)
231127-N-VX009-1002 CHINA LAKE, Calif. (Nov. 27, 2023) An F/A-18F Super Hornet assigned to the “Vampires” of Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Nine (VX-9), and a U-2 Dragonlady fly over Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake. VX-9 is charged with the testing and evaluation of weapons and their related systems in direct support of the United States Naval Aviation Fleet. (U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Jonathan Newbery)
231127-N-VX009-1001 CHINA LAKE, Calif. (Nov. 27, 2023) An F/A-18F Super Hornet assigned to the “Vampires” of Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Nine (VX-9), and a U-2 Dragonlady fly over Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake. VX-9 is charged with the testing and evaluation of weapons and their related systems in direct support of the United States Naval Aviation Fleet. (U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Jonathan Newbery)
The China Lake-based Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Nine, under COMNAVAIRPAC, has been around since 1951, starting off with Skyraiders, and has since operated EA-6Bs, various models of the F-14, and, as shown above, is now a Rhino/Growler unit.