F-35 Weapons Load [internal & external Eglin AFB]

I guess this is a milestone of sorts however we have seen fully loaded variants in hangars before - did not HILL AFB do it?

F-35 Weapons Load
22 Jul 2016 Senior Airman Stormy Archer, 33rd Fighter Wing Public Affairs

"EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, FL. -- Airmen from the 33rd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron load an AIM-9X missile on to a F-35A’s external weapons pylon July 20, 2016 here.

This milestone was the first time an F-35A here was loaded with internal and external weapons[?] and will help develop weapon-loading procedures for the F-35 program.

The F-35 is capable of carrying weapons both internally and externally to adapt to mission needs."

Photo: "An F-35A from the 58th Fighter Squadron is loaded with weapons in its internal weapons bays and on external pylons July 20, 2016, at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. The F-35 is capable of carrying weapons both internally and externally in order to adapt to mission needs. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Stormy Archer)" http://media.defense.gov/2016/Jul/22/20 ... 74-106.JPG

As crazy as it sounds, I don't think I've ever seen a non-SDD jet with external pylon.

External weapons on pylons come with Block 3F. I was thinking of this photo and another similar from years ago of an F-35B at Pax River loaded with gun pod & missiles / bombs. https://a855196877272cb14560-2a4fa819a6 ... arriage_(1)-2__main.jpg & from our very own: http://www.f-16.net/f-35-news-article3837.html / http://www.f-16.net/g3/var/resizes/f-35 ... 5B_005.jpg

This is my fave: http://i619.photobucket.com/albums/tt27 ... optest.jpg

18000+ lbs of internal fuel and all those weapons (internal AND external)... who ever says the F-35 doesn't have payload capability is either high as a U-2 or will fully stupid.

18000+ lbs of internal fuel and all those weapons (internal AND external)... who ever says the F-35 doesn't have payload capability is either high as a U-2 or will fully stupid.

People who attack the F-35 always point out how the F-35 will get shot down if you load it up with external stores, because then you lose your stealth!... and then advocate for their platform of choice, which NEVER has stealth.

How soon until we see the internal bays being upgraded to hold Six AIM120s and for which model? If and when that happens, should the F-35 ever be used for air superiority missions will the loadout be 4 AIM 120 + 2 Aim 9 internally?

How soon until we see the internal bays being upgraded to hold Six AIM120s and for which model? If and when that happens, should the F-35 ever be used for air superiority missions will the loadout be 4 AIM 120 + 2 Aim 9 internally?

I believe that the 6x AMRAAM load will be incorporated as part of Block 4F, sometime in the early 20s. To my knowledge, as a rail-launched missile, the 9X is not really doable internally, so the aircraft would just carry 6 AMRAAMs unless the environment was sufficiently permissive to take the RCS penalty of using the wing stations for the 9Xs.

I thought the Aim-9X had a lock on after launch mode?
If the weapon can be fired from a submarine, a non rail launch is doable.

The earliest that 6x AMRAAM would arrive is Block 4.3 or 4.4, the latter of which was last scheduled for a 2025 release.

The AIM-9X does have LOAL, but that has nothing to do with the fact that it's a rail-launched missile. LOAL just means that it can be fired without its seeker being locked on to the enemy. It wouldn't be that difficult to add a remote fuse to the AIM-9X to make it capable of internal carriage, but it'd still be an upgrade program that requires funding, which is hard to come by at the moment.

Hello. Is there any official information about the (aerodynamic/structural) reason of the different configuration of pylons 2 and 10 that are tilted upwards in comparison with pylons 3 and 9 on A and B version? On the other hands on F-35C the 4 pylons seem to be exactly the same. Thank you.

There was a thread some months back that discussed angles / alignments of external weapons pylons etc. Search is your friend.

Suggest you try searching on "pylon" "external" "angle" "alignment" "aero" OR "aerodynamics" and various combinations.

Thank you Steve2267, but I didn't find it before my post and unfortunately I' don't find it now. For sure here and in other forums there are discussions about that question: for the moment I found some of them (for example here viewtopic.php?f=54&t=23216&hilit=external+pylon&start=15) , but not the answer...In any case it seams there are no articles or official comments about that.
Never mind. I'll go on in my serch.

You're welcome. But I can see where my suggestion was less than helpful. I have recalled, though, that the previous discussion of which I think involved the F-35B and was on a thread involving seat trials on the USS America. I managed to find the post / thread to which I was referring.

Hope this helps: viewtopic.php?p=357196#p357196

(Not sure it answers your questions, but FWIW...)

Hello. Is there any official information about the (aerodynamic/structural) reason of the different configuration of pylons 2 and 10 that are tilted upwards in comparison with pylons 3 and 9 on A and B version? On the other hands on F-35C the 4 pylons seem to be exactly the same. Thank you.

This is the best response for the different angles (in the thread suggested in the previous post):

viewtopic.php?p=357275#p357275