F-35 Fighter test flight with external weapons at Edwards AFB
Lockheed Martin Corporation‘s stealthy, supersonic fighter, the F-35 (known as the Joint Strike Fighter), has started its first flight tests with external missiles at Edwards Air Force Base in, you guessed it… the Mojave Desert! The F-35 will be used jointly by the Navy, Marines, and Air Force. Three versions of the fighter are being built, one for aircraft carriers, one that is capable of short takeoffs and vertical landings, and one conventional fighter jet.
The center fuselage sections will be made at Northrup Grumman Corporation Plant 42 (the “answer to life, the universe, and everything?” 
) in Palmdale, California, but all three variants will be built on the same production line at Lockheed’s plant in Fort Worth, Texas. The F-35 order is the Pentagon’s most costly program currently, with 2,443 aircraft at a cost of $382 billion.
During the February 16 test, an F-35 took off with two wing-mounted air-to-air missiles, two internal 2,000-pound bunker-busting bombs, and two advanced medium range air-to-air missiles inside the two internal weapon bays.
The F-35 did not deliver any of the weapons during the test flight.
-Bill at
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