Tag: F-35B

US F-35 fighters fly first ever combat mission

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — American F-35 stealth fighters have been used in a combat operation for the first time, officials said, marking a major milestone for the most expensive plane in history. Thursday’s mission took place against Taliban targets in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, when the F-35s flew from the USS Essex amphibious assault ship. The planes deployed were the F-35B variant, used by the Marine Corps and capable of taking off from a short […]

US heavy bombers, jets in show of force against N. Korea

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — United States heavy bombers and stealth jet fighters delivered a show of force directed at North Korea in a live-fire drill Thursday, two days after Pyongyang’s provocative test-launch of a ballistic missile that flew over northern Japan. Two B-1B “Lancer” bombers from Guam and four F-35B stealth jet fighters from the Marine Corps’ Iwakuni airbase in Japan joined four South Korean jet fighters and two from Japan in the exercise […]