The F-35As the Air Force in May 2019 deployed to the Middle East for operations targeting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria frequently fly in beast mode. Islamic State forces lack significant air defenses.The U.S. military could hang more weapons under the wings of its F-35 stealth fighters.(This article originally appeared earlier this year.)Lockheed Martin, which assembles the single-engine, radar-evading jets, in early May 2019 revealed a concept for a hypersonic surface-to-air missile that’s compatible with the U.S. Navy’s F-35C.Lockheed for years has been working with the U.S. Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to develop the Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept hypersonic missile. “HAWC, which has so far been under development as a land-attack weapon, is set to fly for the first time before the end of the year,” Joe Trevithick reported at The War Zone.> The artist’s conception of an F-35C firing a HAWC derivative first appeared at the Navy League’s annual Sea, Air, Space convention just outside of Washington, D.C., on May 6, 2019. The rendering shows the stealth aircraft configured to carry two of these weapons externally, one under each wing. ….
