F-35 Gun Goes For A Spin

Posted 31 July 2015

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Photo by Darin Russell

Technicians at the F-35 Integrated Test Force at Edwards AFB, California, began ground-based testing of the GAU-22A internal, four-barrel, 25 mm gun on the Lightning II on 9 June 2015. The tests, which took place on the Edwards Gun Harmonizing Range, used PGU-23/U target practice rounds, which fire from the gun, but do not explode on impact. Test aircraft AF-2, a highly modified flight sciences aircraft, underwent four months of instrumentation modifications and had a line production gun installed for the tests. In-flight gun tests are expected to begin in late September 2015. An operational gun capability will be added the F-35 as part of a future block of software. The GAU-22/A on the F-35B and C models is carried in an external pod.

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