

Naval Air Station Fallon, Nevada, is where US Navy aviation develops and hones its warfighting skills. It is also where carrier air wings deploy as they work up and prepare to go on cruise.
THE DESERT SCRUB of western Nevada rushes beneath the fuselages of countless US Navy aircraft as they gather pace on their work-ups prior to ‘hitting the boat’. The sprawling ramps and vast ranges attached to NAS Fallon bristle with activity when a carrier air wing (CVW) is in town and, from early December, CVW-17 (tailcode NA) arrived in Nevada as the fleet fighters prepared for their forthcoming embark on USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), having been reassigned from USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) in 2016.