The F-35’s distributed aperture system, or DAS, recently detected and tracked a two-stage rocket launch from more than 800 miles away. This was accomplished during a routine flight test aboard a surrogate aircraft, DAS maker Northrop Grumman announced Tuesday. DAS is an infrared sensor system designed to provide 360-degree situational awareness to F-35 pilots. Operating off the company’s BAC 1-11 test bed aircraft, the system tracked the rocket during its nine-minute, two-stage flight from horizon break until final burnout. “We have only scratched the surface on the number of functions the F-35’s DAS is capable of providing,” said Dave Bouchard, Northrop’s program director for F-35 sensors. He added, “The number of possibilities is endless.”
A-10 Thunderbolt II attack planes in the Middle East are flying with fresh modifications as the Air Force looks to make the plane more versatile amid America’s ongoing blockade of Iranian ports and a tenuous ceasefire in the U.S. air war against Iran.