Courtesy of Naval Air Station Patuxent River, MDThe F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Lightening II, expected to arrive at MCAS Yuma, Ariz. by the end of the year, accomplished a significant milestone Aug. 8 by demonstrating a successful weapons release during a flight at Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, MD. U.S. military officials at the test site see this as a, “significant entry into a new phase of testing for the F-35 program,” which includes validating the F-35’s capability to employ precision weapons and allow pilots to engage the enemy on the ground and in the air. The release was the first time any version of the F-35 conducted an airborne weapon seperation, as well as the first from an internation weapon bay for a fighter aircraft designated for the U.S. Marine Corps, the United Kingdom and Italy.
