Watch 2 F-35s flex in 'beast mode' on a war mission in the Middle East

Ryan Pickrell

May 24, 2019 9:29 PM

Two F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters recently flew missions in "beast mode" in support of US forces in Afghanistan.

A three-man weapons load team from the 380th Expeditionary Maintenance Group, loads an F-35A Lightning II with a full external loadout at Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates, May 2019.

The fighters were carrying a full loadout of external weapons, including six precision bombs and two air-to-air missiles.
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Two F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters recently flew a mission in the Middle East in "beast mode," meaning they were loaded up with as much firepower as they could carry.

The F-35s with the 4th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron took off from Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates to execute a mission in support of US forces in Afghanistan, Air Forces Central Command revealed. The fifth-generation fighters sacrificed their high-end stealth to fly with a full loadout of weaponry on their wings.

An F-35A Lightning II approaches a KC-10 Extender for aerial refueling during an operation in support of U.S. Forces Afghanistan, May 2019. US AIR FORCE

"Beast mode," the carrying of weapons internally and externally to boost the overall firepower of the aircraft, is also known as the "Third Day of War" configuration. At the start of a fight, the F-35 would store all of its weapons internally to maintain low observability, as the external weapons would likely increase the surfaces that an enemy radar could detect.

The fighters carried 6 GBU-49 Paveway laser-guided precision bombs and 2 AIM-9X Sidewinder infrared-tracking short-range air-to-air missiles externally. AFCENT released a video Friday of 380th Expeditionary Maintenance Group teams loading the weapons onto the jets.

US Air Forces deployed the F-35A to the Middle East, the US Central Command area of responsibility, for the first time in April. The aircraft flew their first sortie on April 26.

A 4th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron F-35A Lightning II pilot meets a crew chief April 26, 2019, at Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates.

Four days later, the F-35s, which were pulled from the active-duty 388th Fighter Wing and Reserve 419th Fighter Wing, conducted an strike in Wadi Ashai, Iraq. The mission, carried out in support of Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve marked the F-35A's first combat mission, according to the US Air Force.

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