The Hercules airframe became a persistent gun platform, orbiting targets while delivering precisely directed fire from side-mounted weapons. Sensors, fire-control systems, and long endurance let the crew observe a battlefield and repeatedly engage from a banked orbit, making the gunship especially valuable for close support and special operations.
INTERACTIVE MODEL LOADS WHEN NEARBY
2016 / ModernAirframe B
F-35A Lightning II
Lockheed Martin · Conventional multirole fighter
HISTORICAL FIELD NOTE
The conventional-runway F-35A combines low-observable shaping, sensor fusion, and internal weapons carriage with the lightest airframe and largest internal fuel load of the three F-35 variants. It entered U.S. Air Force operational service in 2016 and is designed for both air-to-air and precision-strike missions.
PERFORMANCE
SPECIFICATION BREAKDOWN
METRICAC-130 GunshipF-35A Lightning II
Top speed
300 mphREFERENCE VALUE
Mach 1.6REFERENCE VALUE
Ceiling
25,000 ftREFERENCE VALUE
50,000 ftREFERENCE VALUE
Range
2,200 miREFERENCE VALUE
1,200+ nmiAPPROXIMATE / PUBLISHED
Archive milestone
Service entry · 1968REFERENCE VALUE
Service entry · 2016REFERENCE VALUE
Nation
United StatesDESCRIPTIVE VALUE
United StatesDESCRIPTIVE VALUE
Primary role
Close-air-support gunshipDESCRIPTIVE VALUE
Conventional multirole fighterDESCRIPTIVE VALUE
Values are concise archive references and can vary by variant, payload, configuration, altitude, operating conditions, and source. Range may describe different published measures where a directly comparable figure is unavailable.
