But so what? That logic applies equally well to the idea that something truly nefarious was going on -- why not just have the Air Force do whatever it was that was nefarious?
Navy planes fly coast to coast all the time, and that area has a lot of military bases that would offer good training for EW regardless of the particular service involved.
It seems odd. Naval systems, while capable of doing onshore surveillance and EW, would be geared primarily toward naval threats. If this is just a test, why not PAX river or someplace similar? The Navy isn't lacking in facilities.
Unless this is something they wanted to test out of the range of any other navy.
That may be the case. With the Rockies to the West, about equidistant from Mexico and Canada, and well removed from the Gulf of Mexico, this is about as far from the beach and an international border as they are going to get.