The F-35, the most expensive, long-running practical joke in American military history, just hit another milestone: aerial refueling with a serious weapon loadout. It’s all for fun, of course, but this under shot shows what it would look like on the way to rain death from above.
https://gizmodo.com/the-f-35-is-cleared-to-fly-again-and-still-not-fixed-5832176
The trillion dollar bird above was packing some serious heat:
Two external inert AIM-9X weapons and four external stores. Internally, the jet was carrying two Joint Direct Attack Munitions and two Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles. The two-hour mission tested the flying qualities of the aircraft while maneuvering with external weapons. This test paves the way for weapons separation testing later this year.
Weapons separation testing. You know what that means!
