THE UK IS READY WITH ITS F-35B STOVL VARIANT AS IT SUCCESFULLY RELEASES THE BOMBING TEST FIRE OF THE 500LB PAVEWAY PRECISION BOMB

The F-35 Lightning II program made aviation history June 12 as Royal Air Force (RAF) Test Pilot Squadron Leader Andy Edgell released two inert 500-pound dual mode Paveway IV precision-guided bombs over the Atlantic Test Ranges, the U.S. Navy reported.

The inaugural weapons separation test of the Paveway IV conducted by the F-35 Lightning II Patuxent River, Md., Integrated Test Force (ITF) was a major milestone for the U.K. Royal Navy and RAF F-35 program. The test brought together the multi-role short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing (STOVL) variant of the F-35 fifth-generation stealth fighter and the Paveway IV — an advanced weapon that equips the Royal Navy and RAF with a state-of-the-art, all-weather Inertial Navigation- and Global Positioning System-guided bombing capability, the first dual-mode bomb operational on the F-35 Lightning II.

The inert bombs safely separated from an internal weapons bay within the F-35B, thereby maintaining the stealth characteristics of the aircraft and furthering the collaborative approach of the U.S. and U.K. in the development of the F-35 Lightning II.

The U.K. is the only Level 1 partner with the United States on the joint, multinational acquisition to develop and field an affordable, highly common family of next-generation strike fighter aircraft for the U.S. Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and eight international partners. Its major role in the F-35’s System Design and Demonstration phase is enabling the regeneration of the U.K. Carrier Strike capability, which will result in significant contracts and jobs for U.K. industry as the F-35B Lightning II and Typhoon become the U.K.’s Fast Jet Combat Air Elements of the future.

The primary role of the F-35B STOVL aircraft is ground attack with a secondary air-to-air role. The aircraft is powered by a single main engine with a vertically-mounted, shaft-driven lift fan propulsion system. Working on the multi-phase testing of the F-35 Block 3F, U.K.-unique Paveway IV are U.S. government, military and contractor personnel, U.K. Ministry of Defence representatives, and U.K. industry partners from BAE Systems, QinetiQ and Raytheon Systems Ltd.

http://www.seapowermagazine.org/stories/20150619-paveway.html

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