Official US Navy Gray Flag Exercise Shoulder Patches — Fly. Test. Fight. Win.
Before it goes to the fleet, it goes through Gray Flag.
Gray Flag is the U.S. Navy's premier large-force test event, hosted by Naval Test Wing Pacific (NTWP) and Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Nine (VX-9) at Naval Base Ventura County, Point Mugu, California. The exercise combines developmental testing, operational testing, and tactics development to evaluate advanced capabilities in a joint, multi-domain environment across a 36,000-square-mile instrumented sea range off the California coast. Gray Flag brings together Navy, Marine Corps, Army, and Air Force units — along with allied partners — to fly hundreds of sorties across dozens of aircraft types, testing next-generation weapons, sensors, and integrated warfighting systems in realistic combat scenarios. This patch represents the test community's sharpest edge — where tomorrow's capabilities are proven before they ever reach the fleet.
Perfect For: Naval Test Wing Pacific personnel, VX-9 Vampires, test pilots and flight test engineers, Point Mugu aviators, NAWCWD scientists and engineers, Gray Flag participants, and anyone who has flown test sorties over the Pacific Range.
Gray Flag — where the future fights first.