Jay Clemens
Lockheed Martin has demonstrated the gun system for the conventional-takeoff-and-landing variant of the F-35 jet in three airborne gunfire bursts during a test flight held in California.
The company tested how the internal Gun Airborne Unit-22/A 25-millimeter Gatling gun system works during flight as part of preparations for the gun system’s certification and the U.S. Air Force’s initial operational capability in 2016, Lockheed said Monday.
“The successful aerial gun test sortie was a culmination of several years’ planning, which intensified in the first half of 2015 at the Edwards F-35 integrated test force flight test squadron with a team of Air Force, Lockheed Martin, Pratt & Whitney, General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman personnel,” said Mike Glass, Edwards ITF flight test director.
Lockheed performed the first phase of tests for three months to assess how the internal 25 mm gun integrates into the F-35A, and the second phase was meant to test the gun’s airframe integration.
Phase one took place in June at the Edwards Air Force Flight Test Center, where initial shots were fired from the ground.
