F-35 i "Beast Mode" - Warrior Maven

 Stealth Air Attack: What F-35 Weapons Enable Massive "Beast Mode"

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter also has a “beast mode” bomb truck capacity for larger attacks.

·         KRIS OSBORN, WARRIOR MAVEN - CENTER FOR MILITARY MODERNIZATION

·         APR 30, 2023

 

The F-35 is often considered a fast, stealthy 5th-gen fighter able to elude and destroy enemy air defenses. Yet, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter also has a “beast mode” bomb truck capacity for larger attacks.

A Big Statement

Decreasing stealth properties does not render the F-35 ineffective in a variety of respects, given that the F-35 is built for heavy bombing as well as reconnaissance missions.

Thinking of these together, an F-35 could use its electro/optical-infrared (EO-IR) cameras and surrounding sensors to find far-away ground targets autonomously, and then attack them from the air with bombs.

The aircraft does have an internal weapons bay, intended to enable attacks while preserving a stealth configuration, yet a full-force attack will mean using the external pylons to enable what many call the F-35’s “beast mode.”

An interesting report from the Aviation Geek Club describes beast mode as arming an F-35 with “six inert 500-pound GBU-12 laser-guided bombs, four loaded externally on the wings and two internally in the weapons bay, as well as an AIM-9 training air-to-air missile.”

Naturally, this means an F-35 would increase its radar signature and decrease the effectiveness of its stealth properties, however, such a configuration would be possible in combat environments wherein the United States has already achieved air supremacy.

Externally hanging weapons present contours and configurations likely to provide enemy radar with a more detailed radar return, therefore delivering a rendering of the aircraft to adversaries.

Longer Attack Missions for F-35

This kind of attack mode might also be needed, should a combat campaign need to extend mission dwell time, creating the opportunity for F-35s to hit more targets with a larger weapons load.

Laser-guided GBU-12s, a guided bomb unit, can pinpoint ground targets “lit up” by laser designators from the air or ground, enabling precision strikes.

The Air Force’s GBU-54, also a laser-guided bomb, also brings the ability for an aircraft to hit moving targets on the ground. 

This would be a massive increase in efficiency, as the aircraft could respond to new intelligence information in real time, thereby greatly reducing latency and sensor-to-shooter time.

By extension, the F-35’s often-discussed “sensor fusion” could play a role here, as it relies upon computer automation and AI to gather otherwise separate sensor information, analyze and organize it to provide pilots with a single integrated picture.

Navigational, targeting, and electronic-related metrics can all be merged by the aircraft itself.

F-35 in clean config.