Pic of the Day: F-35B Shows Off its Gun Pod

Ever wondered what the stealthy-ish, bolt-on gun pod of the F-35B short take-off and vertical landing variant of the Joint Strike Fighter looked like?

Well, this great picture shows an F-35B rolling while armed with an inert AIM-9X Sidewinder missile on the outer wing pylon and the center gun pod housing a 25 mm GAU-22 cannon. The jet was also carrying a BGU-32 1,000-pound bomb and an AIM-120 advanced medium range air-to-air missile (AMRAAM) inside its weapons bay.

Remember, unlike the AIr Force's F-35A, the B-model doesn't have room for an internal cannon.