Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (HX) 21 changed command on Aug. 20 during an airborne ceremony at Naval Air Station (NAS) Patuxent River, Maryland, where Cmdr. Michael Lindsey assumed leadership from Lt. Col. Aaron Okun.
Naval Test Wing Atlantic Commodore Capt. Daniel Kitts presided over the ceremony.
"Lt. Col. Okun has served HX-21 with distinction," said Kitts. "Cmdr. Lindsey is ready to carry that momentum forward and lead the squadron into the future.”
Lindsey assumes command after serving as HX-21’s chief test pilot. Okun will join the Marine Aviation Detachment at NAS Patuxent River as the executive officer.
“Every flight test is an opportunity to make naval aviation safer, more capable, and more ready,” said Lindsey. “It’s an honor to lead a team that turns the complexities of rotary-wing, tiltrotor aircraft, and mission systems into real capability for the fleet.”
Lindsey, a Palmdale, California native and U.S. Naval Academy graduate, has more than 1,700 flight hours in 24 aircraft. He served with Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 8 as an MH-60S pilot and deployed in support of Operations New Dawn and Enduring Freedom. After graduating from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, Lindsey served as an MH-60R/S developmental test pilot and project officer at HX-21 before earning a master’s degree in systems engineering from Johns Hopkins University. He later led MQ-8 Fire Scout ship integration at the Multi-Mission Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems Program Office and served as the platform’s government flight test director at the Navy’s unmanned test squadron, UX-24. He later became deputy program manager at the Naval Undergraduate Flight Training Systems Program Office before returning to HX-21 as chief test pilot and assuming command.
“Leading and serving alongside the Blackjacks has been both the defining experience and highest privilege of my career,” said Okun. “I leave with tremendous respect for the people who make this squadron what it is and great confidence in the work they will carry forward under the leadership of Cmdr. Lindsey.”
Okun, a Canton, Massachusetts native and U.S. Naval Academy graduate, has accumulated more than 1,900 flight hours in 35 aircraft. After completing flight training, he deployed with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 261 in support of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit and Operation Enduring Freedom. He later served as an operational test pilot with Marine Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron (VMX) 1 before graduating from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School. Okun conducted V-22 flight testing at HX-21 before serving as the Survivability Integrated Product Team lead at the V-22 Joint Program Office. He returned to HX-21 as chief test pilot before taking command in 2025.
HX-21 is a component of Naval Test Wing Atlantic, the test wing under the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division. Nicknamed the “Blackjacks,” the squadron provides developmental flight test and evaluation for U.S. Navy and Marine Corps rotary-wing and tilt-rotor aircraft. NAS Patuxent River is home to HX-21 since 1949 where the squadron advances capability and readiness for six families of aircraft including the CH-53E/K, the C/MV-22, the H-1Y/Z, MH-60R/S, and the Presidential Helicopter fleet. For more information about NAWCAD, visit www.navair.navy.mil or follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/MyNAWCAD/.