EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif -- The 461st Flight Test Squadron’s Lt Col Brent Reinhardt piloted F-35A AF-1 in the first Joint Strike Fighter test mission flown with 10 weapons, allowing the Joint Strike Fighter Integrated Test Force to evaluate the handling qualities of the F-35A. The weapon load consisted of six 500-pound Guided Bomb Unit-12 Paveway II bombs, two in the internal weapon bays and four under the wings, two AIM-120 Advance Medium Ranged Air to Air Missiles mounted in the internal weapon bays, and two AIM-9X missiles mounted under the wings.
The F-35 was designed with sustainment in mind. The Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) is the fleet management backbone for the F-35. Pilots plan and debrief missions, and sustainment professionals maintain the F-35 using ALIS. Delivering an integrated interface to maintenance, supply chain and sustainment information, ALIS is the single management tool supporting all F-35 operations.
The designation of fighter aircraft by “generations” began with the first subsonic jets toward the end of World War II, with each new generation reflecting a major advance in technology and capability. The F-35 Lightning II is referred to as a 5th Generation fighter, combining advanced stealth capabilities with fighter aircraft speed and agility, fully-fused sensor information, network-enabled operations and advanced logistics and sustainment.