British and American fighters of the shortened take-off and vertical landing of the fifth generation F-35B Lightning II, based on the British aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth, can begin to be used to spy on Russia in Syria, writes The Drive.
The publication recalls that the F-35B Lightning II struck the positions of the terrorist group "Islamic State" (IS, banned in Russia) in the Middle East. The fighters were armed with, among other things, GBU-12 Paveway laser-guided aerial bombs, Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) free-fall bombs, AIM—120 (Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile) AMRAAM all-weather guided air—to-air missiles, and AIM-9X Sidewinder infrared homing guided air-to-air missiles.
"In addition, given the proximity of Russian troops, the presence of the F-35B as an information gathering tool probably makes it a very useful asset in this theater of operations, even if such a capability is not a prerequisite for anti-IS missions," the newspaper writes.
In March, The Mirror tabloid, referring to the statement of General Richard Dannatt, who headed the General Staff of the Armed Forces (AF) of Great Britain in 2006-2009, wrote that the F-35B Lightning II is ruining the country's Ministry of Defense.
In September 2018 [...], two fifth-generation fighters of the US Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II, operated by British pilots, landed for the first time on the aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom Queen Elizabeth, located off the east coast of North America. Subsequently, these aircraft made a springboard takeoff from the deck of the aircraft carrier.
Ivan Potapov
