Major Alec “Cosmo” Rackish grew up in Williamsport, Pennsylvania — a town better known for Little League baseball than for producing test pilots. But Rackish followed the path that a small number of Marine aviators walk: flight school, fleet squadron, Test Pilot School, developmental testing, and finally to Marine Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron One — VMX-1, the unit that decides whether Marine aircraft are ready for war. At the 2026 MCAS Yuma Air Show, marking the event’s 60th anniversary, Rackish sat down to talk about what VMX-1 does, how it thinks, and why the Harrier still teaches lessons to pilots flying the F-35B.

The Unit That Says Yes — or No

VMX-1 is not a combat squadron and not a display team. It is the Marine Corps’ gatekeeper. Before any new aircraft, weapons system, or software update reaches the Fleet Marine Forces, it must pass through VMX-1’s operational test programme. The squadron’s pilots, engineers, and analysts subject every system to the question that matters most: does it work in the hands of a regular Marine, in realistic conditions, under operational pressure? The answer is not always yes. VMX-1 has the authority to recommend against fielding a system that doesn’t meet operational requirements. It is one of the most consequential squadrons in Marine aviation — not because it fights, but because it decides what fighters fight with. Rackish describes the unit’s culture as a “test culture” that prizes honest assessment over institutional loyalty. “Our job is to tell the truth about how something performs,” he says. “Nobody benefits if we sign off on a system that fails the first time a Marine really needs it.”

Harrier Lessons in a Stealth World

Rackish came up through the AV-8B Harrier community — the aircraft the F-35B is replacing. He speaks about the Harrier with the affection of someone who knows its quirks intimately. The Harrier taught Marine pilots to think differently about basing, about operating from austere locations, about the art of making do with less. Those lessons carry directly into the F-35B era. The Lightning II is incomparably more capable than the Harrier, but the operational concept — forward basing, dispersed operations, quick turnarounds on damaged or improvised surfaces — is the same. VMX-1 tests not just the aircraft but the entire concept of operations around it. “The Harrier gave us a mindset,” Rackish explains. “You learn to operate in places where the infrastructure doesn’t exist yet. The F-35B gives us the technology to do that better. But the mindset came from the Harrier.”

What’s on the Test Calendar

VMX-1’s current workload reads like a catalogue of Marine aviation’s future. The F-35B continues to receive software updates and new weapons integrations that require operational validation. The CH-53K King Stallion — the Corps’ new heavy-lift helicopter — is working through its operational test phase. The MQ-9A Reaper recently flew its inaugural Marine-operated mission from Yuma. And the MV-22 Osprey, after a fleet-wide grounding and return to service, is being re-evaluated under new operational parameters. Each programme has its own test team, its own schedule, and its own set of questions to answer. Rackish oversees all of them. It is a job that requires the precision of an engineer, the instincts of a combat pilot, and the diplomacy of someone who must occasionally tell a programme office that their prized system isn’t good enough. For a man from Williamsport, it’s a long way from the Little League diamond. But the principle is the same: test it, prove it, then trust it. Sources: The Aviationist, DVIDS, US Marine Corps, The War Zone