First Small Diameter Bomb Pit Test
23 October 2013: US government test pilot Vince Caterina was at the controls of F-35A AF-1 for the first pit test of the GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb. The tests, all drops from the internal weapon bay, were conducted at the F-35 Integrated Test Force at Edwards AFB, California.
Photo by Chad Bellay
First Guided Weapon Drop
29 October 2013: Marine Corps Maj. Richard Rusnok was at the controls of F-35B BF-17 for the first guided weapon delivery from an F-35. Rusnok used the Electro-Optical Targeting System, or EOTS, to guide a GBU-12 Paveway II to a specified ground target after releasing the weapon from the internal weapon bay of the F-35. The GBU-12 is a 500-pound Mk-82 general-purpose bomb mated with a nose-mounted laser seeker and flight guidance fins for precision strike. The test mission was conducted from Edwards AFB, California.
Photo by Darin Russell
First Live Missile Launch
30 October 2013: The F-35 program executed its first live-fire launch of a guided air-to-air missile over the test range off the California coast. The AIM-120 AMRAAM was launched from F-35A operating from the F-35 Integrated Test Facility at Edwards AFB, California. The pilot, Air Force Capt. Logan Lamping, launched the AIM-120 from the F-35’s internal weapon bay against an aerial drone target. The drone was identified and targeted using the aircraft’s mission systems sensors. After launch, the missile successfully acquired the target and followed an intercept flight profile.
Photo by Paul Weatherman
