Navy News
Direct from the front-line, the official newspaper of the Royal Navy, Navy News, brings you the latest news, features and award winning photos every month.
The US Navy’s Gray Flag exercise seeks to improve naval air combat through co-operation with allies and by experimenting with the latest aerial developments and weapons.
The Brits – normally based at Edwards Air Force Base – made the 90-mile trip to Naval Base Ventura County at Point Magu, just west of Los Angeles.
There they shared the skies – and taxiways – with US F-35s, numerous variants of the F/A-18 Super Hornet, C130s, an RAF Voyager for air-to-air refuelling, and uncrewed systems, while surface ships operated in the exercise area off the Californian coast.
The ranges at Point Magu cover 36,000 square miles of air and sea space – more than four times the size of Wales – with sensors recording data throughout the area so the performance of aircraft, their weapons and systems can be thoroughly assessed.
And there was a lot to record during the two-week exercise: 600 sorties in 60 different tests as more than two dozen different systems were assessed and evaluated.
In all, more Royal Navy and RAF aviators pitted their wits against the latest tech and best pilots from our allies during aerial war games outside Los Angeles.
than 3,000 US personnel alone took part in Gray Flag 2024, with four out of five men and women from 17 TES – some 60 air and ground crew – flying the flag for the UK.
As well as proving extremely useful for developing future F-35 operations both individually and jointly for the participating formations and nations, there was some downtime for some of the 3,000 personnel taking part with sporting activities such as volleyball and paddleboarding, cornhole (throwing bean bags through a hole on a board), plus a beach barbecue.
The exercise also boosted the squadron’s welfare funds with $13,000 (£10,000) 17 TES merchandise sold (special ‘Gray Flag’ patches proving especially popular).
As with the rest of the UK’s Lightning Force, 17 TES is a mixed RAF-Fleet Air Arm – 75 men and women drawn from both Services who are charged with pushing the boundaries of F-35 operations.
At Edwards – which is where legendary aviator Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier nearly 80 years ago – the Brits work alongside fellow F-35 users from the US and Australia.
Together they form a United Operational Test Team, developing tactics, testing sensors, software and kit with the goal of ensuring the fifth-generation fighter remains ahead of current and future threats.
It’s currently led by Commander Stephen Collins – callsign Lothar – the first Briton selected for the US Navy’s ‘Top Gun’ course.
He took over from fellow Fleet Air Arm aviator Commander Matt ‘FB’ Fooks-Bale, under whose tutelage the newest air-to-air missile in the F-35 inventory, the AIM-120D Advanced Medium Range Air-Air Missile (AMRAAM), capable of taking out aerial targets up to 100 miles from the Lightning.
If you’re expecting a traditional naval grip and grin in front of a peribuoy to mark the handover, wrong. The handover is performed between the two pilots mid-flight in Edwards’ air space. At supersonic speed. (There is a more formal ceremony once back on the ground.)
Direct from the front-line, the official newspaper of the Royal Navy, Navy News, brings you the latest news, features and award winning photos every month.