Snapshot
February 22, 2012
Armed, Not Quite Ready
An F-35A flying out of Edwards Air Force Base in California chalked up another first for the Joint Strike Fighter test program -- the first flight carrying external weapons. The fighter carried, but didn't fire, two air-to-air AIM-9X missiles on its outboard wing stations. In addition, it was loaded with two internal 2,000-pound guided bombs (GBU-31) and two advanced medium range air-to-air missiles (AIM-120) inside the two internal weapon bays. All in all, the F-35 can carry up to 18,000 pounds of munitions fixed to 10 internal and external weapon stations.
Paul Weatherman/ Lockheed Martin
Comments (1)
Did the Chinese really steal 1.7 terabytes of intel regarding the F-22 capabilities? If so, I would be scared.
Posted by lorenzo on February 22,2012 | 03:40PM