Nearly 70 US F-35s submerged in sandstorm
On July 31, a terrible sandstorm swept through a US Air Force base in Arizona and sank nearly 70 F-35 stealth fighters.
At the time of the terrible sandstorm, Luke Air Force Base in Arizona had about 77 F-16s and 68 fifth-generation F-35 fighters.
The base is currently a training center for F-35 Lightning II pilots and maintainers from Australia, Norway, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan and Israel.
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It is currently unclear how much damage the sandstorm caused to a series of fighter jets here, especially the F-35 - a state-of-the-art fighter jet with stealth materials that is very fragile in the face of sandstorms and harsh environments, according to DefenseTalk.
This source also revealed that, despite being "drowned" by the media for a long time, the American manufacturer continues to put destructive power into each shot of the F-35 by equipping this fighter with bullets made of tungsten.
The program comes after the Pentagon awarded German manufacturer Rheinmetall the first contract to produce and supply special 25mm fragmentation ammunition for the F-35 stealth fighter.
The F-35 fighter will be equipped with 25x137mm ammunition (US Air Force designation PGU-48/B) specially designed for armor-piercing attacks and requiring high damage.
The special feature of this type of bullet is that they are manufactured with a core made of super hard tungsten designed to provide good armor penetration, but when penetrating the target, this core will shatter, increasing the possibility of fragmentation damage.
With its tungsten core, this 25mm round is fully capable of destroying all air and ground targets, including armored targets within its range. This round becomes even more dangerous when fired from the GAU-22/A 25mm Gatling gun.
According to initial information released, the GAU-22/A has a firing rate of up to 3,000 rounds/minute, with bullets leaving the barrel at a speed of more than 1 km/s. The GAU-22/A is hidden inside the aircraft, ensuring the F-35 maintains its stealth capabilities until it is activated.
Rheinmetall will supply the US Air Force with tens of thousands of new technology ammunition bases worth about $6.5 million. The contract will be implemented in four phases.
According to plan, the first batch of ammunition will reach the US Air Force after December from the official contract signing.
Some images of sandstorm sweeping through US base
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