Photo: USAF/Tech. Sgt. Matthew Lotz
Almost all of the photos we get from the U.S. Air Force (USAF) show military aircraft in their natural environment, which would be the sky. The majority of these pics are somewhat artistic and focus on highlighting the shape of the aircraft, their capabilities, or even the surroundings. USAF pics rarely focus on weaponry, because, well, that's a sensitive topic.
Either by accident or on purpose, given all that’s going on in the world, the American military included in its last week’s release of images the photo we have here, depicting three F-16 Fighting Falcons. It shows the fighter jets as they were back in early February, when they were flying as part of the Cope North 22 exercise that took place over the Pacific Ocean.
That would be “a trilateral exercise bringing American, Australian and Japanese forces together to test capabilities, enhance readiness skills and improve interoperability,” according to the American military.
All three airplanes belong to the 14th Fighter Squadron, a unit first established in 1942 and presently stationed at the Misawa Air Base in Japan. They all seem to have gone out for the exercise loaded with missiles and pods of various uses, as seen in the main photo of this piece.
Each Falcon can be an impressive weapons’ platform. They are equipped with multi-barrel cannons and external stations that can hold anything from air-to-air missiles, air-to-air and air-to-surface munitions, and electronic countermeasure pods.
As far as missiles and bombs are concerned, each plane can pack stuff like 2,000-pound bombs, an assortment of AIM-9 and AIM-120 missiles, but also two 2400-pound external fuel tanks to help them increase their range, officially rated at more than 2,000 miles, or 3,219 km.
As for the Cope North 22 exercise, it saw a wide range of aircraft taking part, including E-7A Wedgetail, C-27J Spartan, and F-35A Lightning II deployed by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).
That would be “a trilateral exercise bringing American, Australian and Japanese forces together to test capabilities, enhance readiness skills and improve interoperability,” according to the American military.
All three airplanes belong to the 14th Fighter Squadron, a unit first established in 1942 and presently stationed at the Misawa Air Base in Japan. They all seem to have gone out for the exercise loaded with missiles and pods of various uses, as seen in the main photo of this piece.
Each Falcon can be an impressive weapons’ platform. They are equipped with multi-barrel cannons and external stations that can hold anything from air-to-air missiles, air-to-air and air-to-surface munitions, and electronic countermeasure pods.
As far as missiles and bombs are concerned, each plane can pack stuff like 2,000-pound bombs, an assortment of AIM-9 and AIM-120 missiles, but also two 2400-pound external fuel tanks to help them increase their range, officially rated at more than 2,000 miles, or 3,219 km.
As for the Cope North 22 exercise, it saw a wide range of aircraft taking part, including E-7A Wedgetail, C-27J Spartan, and F-35A Lightning II deployed by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).
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