Loaded on to this state-of-the-art jet from 17 (Test and Evaluation) is the weaponry it would typically carry on a strike mission: 22,000lb of destructive and defensive power.
n this case the ‘bombheads’ on HMS Queen Elizabeth – red-surcout-wearing air engineer technicians – carefully loaded inert Paveway l@ser-guided bombs and ASRAAM air-to-air missiles (for taking out aerial threats) on to the external pylons and bomb bay.
Fully-loaded, it’s known as “beast mode” by crews because of the firepower it delivers – nearly three times more than a Harrier, and as much as the heaviest payload carried by a WW2 Lancaster bomber (a Grand Slam or ‘earthquake’ bomb.
What on earth is this on about and why is it being reposted here? Assuming there are 2 bombs internally, the so-called ‘beast mode’ carries 3000lb of weapons plus 2 ASRAAM. Which is one-seventh of the load of a Lancaster and could easily have been lifted by a Harrier.
Very few seek to argue that the F-35B is not a significantly compromised machine, least of all the USMC who announced back in the spring that they were accelerating deliveries of C-models in preference to Bs...