The U.S. Marine Corps has completed a series of operational test missile shots of the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile onboard the F-35B aircraft.Three F-35B, 75 U.S. Marines from Edwards Air Force Base in California and 21 test personnel from the JSF Operational Test Team at Edwards performed the testing at Eglin AFB in Florida from Aug. 9 to Sept. 1, DVIDS said Tuesday.
“Due to the commonality of the F-35 mission systems and weapons, everything we learned during this detachment directly translates to combat capabilities for the Marine Corps, our sister services and partner countries,†said Lt. Col. Richard Rusnok, VMX-1 F-35B Detachment officer-in-charge.
The employment scenarios were intended to validate and develop tactics, techniques and procedures for the three F-35 variants.
During the testing, the detachment performed engineering runs prior to firing five AIM-120 missiles and one Guided Bomb Unit-12 LASER guided bomb, and the team designed air-to-air and air-to-ground scenarios.
The team fired two missiles on two separate set-ups on the first day of live fire testing and dropped a GBU-12 from an F-35B while targeting a QF-16 drone during another test mission.
