The F-35B Just Got A Lot Deadlier
F-35B perform maneuvers above the USS America on Sunday, November 20, 2016.
By Patrick Tucker Read bio
November 22, 2016
In a proof-of-concept experiment, data passed instantly from a Marine Corps fighter allowed a shipboard Aegis system to shoot down a drone.
The F-35 now packs more punch: specifically, the 20-foot Standard Missile, or SM-6, complete with a 140-pound warhead. But not fired from under the wing — rather from a nearby Aegis destroyer.
In September, the Marines completed a proof-of-concept test in which a Marine Corps F-35B detected a cruise-missile decoy (a drone), passed targeting information to a remote sensor, and set up a shot by an Aegis combat system of the sort you’ll find on modern destroyers. A battery controlled by the Aegis fired a live SM-6 missile, which took down the drone.
http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2016/11/f-35b-just-got-lot-deadlier/133379/?oref=d-channeltop
