A US Navy (USN) F/A-18F Super Hornet aircraft assigned to the Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Nine (VX-9) conducts an operation test mission flight over the Coso Mountain Range, at China Lake, California (CA). This aircraft is one of the first Super Hornets equipped with the revolutionary new APG-79 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, which could eventually give naval aircrews a quantum leap in tactical capability over older aircraft equipped with mechanical radar systems