U.S. F-35 fighter drops first guided bomb against ground target

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U.S. F-35 fighter drops first guided bomb against ground target

<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/u-f-35-fighter-drops-first-guided-bomb-231619122--finance.html"><img src="http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/Qnp3qHkgtS2iqst4KUHQlw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9NzU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2013-10-30T231619Z_1_CBRE99T1SNI00_RTROPTP_2_LOCKHEED-FIGHTER-WEAPON.JPG" width="130" height="86" alt="U.S. Marine Corps F-35B fighter jet drops a laser-guided bomb at Edwards Air Force Base, California" align="left" title="U.S. Marine Corps F-35B fighter jet drops a laser-guided bomb at Edwards Air Force Base, California" border="0" /></a>By Andrea Shalal-Esa WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jet dropped a 500-pound bomb this week, hitting a tank at Edwards Air Force Base in California and marking the first time the new warplane has fired a laser-guided weapon, the Pentagon said Wednesday. An F-35 B-model jet released the Guided Bomb Unit-12 (GBU-12) Paveway II bomb from its internal weapons bay while flying at around 25,000 feet, successfully smashing into a tank parked on the ground, the Pentagon's F-35 program office said in a statement. It took 35 seconds to hit the target. &quot;This guided weapons delivery test of a GBU-12 marks the first time the F-35 truly became a weapon system,&quot; said Marine Corps Major Richard Rusnok, the pilot who flew the plane during the weapons test Tuesday.</p><br clear="all"/>

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