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F-35 Launches First Air To Air Missile; Concurrency Costs Plunge $500 Million
http://breakingdefense.com/2013/06/07/f-35-launches-first-air-to-air-missile-concurrency-costs-plunge-500-million/
F-35 Launches First Air To Air Missile; Concurrency Costs Plunge $500 Million
By Colin Clark on June 07, 2013 at 6:03 PM
WASHINGTON: It’s been a tough week for critics of the F-35. Concurrency costs dropped an impressive half billion dollars — note to Winslow Wheeler — and the Air Force version launched an air to air missile for the first time.
The F-35A launched the AMRAAM missile on Wednesday (it can take the Pentagon a while to clear even good news for release). Here’s how a statement described the vent this afternoon:
“This is the first launch where the F-35 and AIM-120 demonstrated a successful launch-to-eject communications sequence and fired the rocket motor after launch – paving the way for targeted launches later this year in support of Block 2B fleet release capability,” the Joint Program Office said.
Block 2B refers to the software that will allow the plane to fly and fight with many of its weapons, though not all.