MAROKO133 Hot ai: 5 months, 5,000 flying hours, 0 failures: US Marines’ F-35 squadron sets

📌 MAROKO133 Breaking ai: 5 months, 5,000 flying hours, 0 failures: US Marines’ F-3

A US Marine Corps squadron flying the F-35B Lightning II stealth fighter has returned from a landmark five-month deployment to the Middle East earlier this month, completing more than 1,000 combat sorties and marking a major step in Marine aviation and joint operations.

Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 542 (VMFA-542), known as the “Tigers,” operated under US Central Command (CENTCOM) from spring to fall 2025.

The squadron conducted close air support, armed overwatch, and defensive counter-air missions supporting US and allied forces throughout the region.

Integrated combat operations

The unit conducted 1,099 combat flights and logged 4,736 safe flight hours, according to the Marine Corps. It also maintained one of the highest aircraft readiness rates in the fleet.

F-35B can take off and land vertically. This feature helps the squadron provide support in various challenging places.

“VMFA-542’s historic deployment has set new benchmarks for Marine Corps aviation, demonstrating that a forward-deployed F-35B squadron can deliver unmatched combat power and readiness while seamlessly integrating with Joint Forces during a major regional crisis,” said Lt Col Carlo F. Bonci, Executive Officer, Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 542.

Operating as part of CENTCOM’s Air Component, Ninth Air Force (Air Forces Central), VMFA-542 worked alongside US Navy, Army, coalition, and partner nation forces. 

The squadron supported air and ground operations, advancing F-35 tactics, techniques, and procedures in real-world missions.

Such deployments showed that the F-35B can take on many combat tasks. It can protect airspace, target enemies, and collect intelligence. The aircraft has a stealthy design and uses advanced sensors.

These features help commanders understand situations better and aim accurately. This support helps them take control of the air and assist ground forces in difficult areas.

Officials said the squadron’s operations also strengthened maritime security and deterrence in the region, as the F-35B integrated with allied air forces in combined exercises and live operations.

A new era of marine aviation

The F-35B, a short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) variant of the Joint Strike Fighter, gives the Marine Corps unprecedented operational agility. 

It can operate from expeditionary bases, amphibious assault ships, or traditional runways, allowing Marines to project power rapidly in complex environments.

VMFA-542’s successful integration into CENTCOM air operations marks one of the most extensive deployments of the Marine Corps’ fifth-generation aircraft. 

The unit has set a strong example for future missions using advanced technology while focusing on quick deployment.

Marine Corps leaders stated that the mission demonstrated the F-35B’s readiness for combat and confirmed the aircraft’s important role in joint and coalition operations, where sharing information and making quick decisions are vital.

The deployment reflects the Marine Corps’s effort to modernize its aviation forces and maintain an edge in great-power competition. 

Officials said the squadron’s performance enhanced US regional deterrence and reinforced partnerships with allies through integrated operations and shared training.

As global tensions remain high, the Marine Corps highlighted that forward-deployed aviation units like VMFA-542 play a key role in maintaining US influence and quickly responding to new threats.

The “Tigers” have returned to Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in North Carolina. They will analyze data, improve tactics, and prepare for future missions there.

“VMFA-542 has set a new standard for readiness and integration,” Bonci said. “This deployment showed the F-35B’s true potential as a combat multiplier for the joint force.”

🔗 Sumber: interestingengineering.com

📌 MAROKO133 Eksklusif ai: Mysterious Interstellar Object Has Sprouted a Tendril Re

Interstellar object 3I/ATLAS continues to fascinate astronomers as it rips through our solar system. And the more we find out about the object — widely suspected to be an icy comet — the more questions emerge.

Latest among those mysteries: the Keck II telescope in Hawaii observed the object when it was just over 2.5 times the distance between the Earth and Sun back in August, and found “evidence for a puzzling anti-tail extension in the direction of the Sun,” as Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb wrote in a blog post last week.

In a recent paper that has yet to be peer reviewed, a team of astronomers used the Keck data to confirm “previously reported cyanide and nickel outgassing,” which are being emitted both in and against the direction of the Sun, which offers “clear evidence for an anti-tail,” according to Loeb.

“Most remarkably, the white light image of 3I/ATLAS does not show evidence for a familiar cometary tail, as expected for dust which scatters sunlight and is pushed away from the Sun by solar radiation pressure,” he added.

As IFLScience explains, the phenomenon could be the result of natural processes. One possibility is that it’s a type of optical illusion; because of the Earth’s relative location in space, a comet’s wide tail can fan out from behind it to make it look as if it has a tail growing tail sprouting from either side.

Another possibility is that larger grains of dust are refusing to be pushed away by solar wind on the comet’s Sun-facing side. The comet’s core of sublimating ice could be spinning rapidly and releasing large pieces of debris in both directions along its orbit making it appear to have a Sunward “anti-tail” in addition to its regular tail.

Scientists have previously identified other comets showing Sun-facing “anti-tails” that suggest the “slow ejection of relatively large dust particles predominantly from the sunlit hemisphere.”

“With a rotating comet nucleus… ejecta from a spot can come off with heliocentric velocity that puts it either in front of or behind the nucleus,” explained University of California, Los Angeles planetary astronomer Michael Busch in a post on Bluesky. “It does not matter which side it starts from.”

“Small dust and ejected gas gets pushed out by radiation pressure and solar wind,” he explained in a followup. “But larger pieces of ejecta spread out along the orbit; both in front of and behind the nucleus.”

To Loeb, the anti-tail remains an “anomaly that raises two questions,” according to a more recent blog post. “What is the nature of the anti-tail? Why are comet experts ignoring this anomaly while insisting that 3I/ATLAS is a familiar comet?”

Fortunately, before 3I/ATLAS leaves the solar system for good, it will provide us with several more opportunities to examine it. It’s expected to make a close approach Jupiter next month, giving NASA’s Juno spacecraft and the European Space Agency’s Juice spacecraft a chance to get a brief glimpse.

For now, Loeb ranks 3I/ATLAS as a four out of ten on his “Loeb scale” — which he invented to gauge the likeliness of an interstellar object being extraterrestrial technology — in a figure that he says means that it has “increasingly anomalous characteristics.”

More on 3I/ATLAS: Interstellar Object Is Spraying Something Weird, Scientists Find

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🔗 Sumber: futurism.com