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Combat capability increases for Marine F-35
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An F-35B Lightning II with Marine Operational Test & Evaluation Squadron 1 on the flight line with an AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range
Air-to-Air Missile prepares for a round of Operational Test missile shots. The three F-35B aircraft and 75 U.S. Marines along with 21 test AEROTECH NEWS
personnel from the JSF Operational Test Team at Edwards that deployed to Eglin AFB, Fla., from Aug. 9 to Sept. 1, 2016, completed AND REVIEW
multiple engineering runs in preparation for the expenditure of five AIM-120 missiles and one Guided Bomb Unit-12 LASER guided bomb.
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Three F-35B aircraft and 75 U.S. Marines from Marine Op- ter services, and partner countries,†Lt. Col. Richard Rusnok,
erational Test & Evaluation Squadron 1 F-35B Detachment at VMX-1 F-35B Detachment officer-in-charge, said of the test search for Aerotech News
Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., along with 21 test personnel missile shoot.
from the JSF Operational Test Team at Edwards deployed to
Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., to complete operational test mis- The detachment completed multiple engineering runs in prep-
sile shots of the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air aration for the expenditure of five AIM-120 missiles and one
Missile. Guided Bomb Unit-12 LASER guided bomb. The operational
test team developed complex air-to-air and air-to-ground sce-
These employment scenarios differed from those conducted narios and the F-35 weapons system performed as expected to
in developmental test in that they were specifically designed deliver weapons on target. On day one of live fire testing, the
around operational employment scenarios with the aim of fur- team was able to shoot two missiles on two separate test set-ups
ther validating and developing tactics, techniques and proce- within 12 minutes — an exceptional level of efficiency in a test
dures for all three variants of the F-35. environment. Another test mission involved an F-35B dropping
a GBU-12 and supporting it with LASER guidance while simul-
“Due to the commonality of the F-35 mission systems and taneously engaging a QF-16 drone. Both weapons successfully
weapons, everything we learned during this detachment directly
translates to combat capabilities for the Marine Corps, our sis- See USMC, Page 3
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