The Pentagon’s Fiscal Year 2021 Unfunded Priorities List has put in a request to equip low-rate initial production (LRIP) Lot 15 F-35C fighters with the Sidekick internal weapons rack.
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (Jan. 24, 2019) U.S. Navy Lt. Daniel “Crib” Armenteros, piloting an F-35C Lightning II assigned to Naval Air Station China Lake’s Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Nine (VX-9), conducts the first live-fire test of an AIM-120 missile released from an operational Joint Strike Fighter. The advanced medium-range air-to-air Missile was released from the aircraft’s internal weapons storage bay over a controlled sea test range in the Pacific Ocean as part of efforts by the 412th Test Wing and Joint Operational Test Team at Edwards Air Force Base. (U.S. Air Force photo by Christopher Okula/RELEASED)
The Sidekick is a modification from Lockheed Martin to allow the A and C variants to carry up to six AIM-120 air-to-air missiles in its internal weapons bay.
