An F-35 dropped a guided bomb on a stationary tank this week, marking the first time the Joint Strike Fighter has struck a target on the ground, the Pentagon said yesterday.
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| The F-35B unleashing a GBU-12 on a target at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Photo by Lockheed Martin |
The F-35B Marine Corps short-takeoff and vertical-landing (STOVL) variant of the fighter released a 500-pound GBU-12 Paveway II laser-guided bomb against the tank during the test Tuesday in California’s Mojave Desert. The GBU-12, however, was not carrying ordnance and therefore was not considered a live fire test, F-35 program spokesman Joe DellaVedova said.
The F-35B unloaded the bomb from its internal weapons bay at 25,000 feet and it hit the target 35 seconds later at the weapons range in Edwards AFB, Calif.
For more than a year, the F-35 program has been releasing weapons from the fuselage in separation tests and pit drops, but Tuesday’s test marked the first time it hit a ground target.
The F-35 used an electro-optical targeting and tracking system to identify and guide the GBU-12 to the tank. The program office said the Electro-Optical Targeting System (EOTS) is the first sensor to combine forward-looking infrared, infrared search and track, and a laser designator to enhance the ability of F-35 pilots for targeting.
“This guided weapons delivery test of a GBU-12 marks the first time the F-35 truly became a weapon system,” said Marine Corps Maj. Richard Rusnok, the pilot for the test.
The test showed the F-35 program is continuing to turn the corner, even though the $391 billion program is well behind schedule and is costing nearly double the original estimates for 2,443 of the aircraft for the Marines, Navy and Air Force. Lockheed Martin [LMT] is the prime contractor.
The Marines plan to declare F-35B initial operational capability in 2015, with the Air Force set to do the same the following year and the Navy toward the end of the decade. On Oct. 21, the Navy conducted its first weapons separation test on the F-35C at Patuxent River, Md., and two days later the Air Force did a pit drop of a 250-pound bomb at Edwards.