FRIDAY FOTO (July 1, 2016)

Don’t Blink.

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Anderson W. Branch

This is what a U.S. Navy Super Hornet looks like a split second before it launches off the flight deck of an aircraft carrier. This F/A-18E Super Hornet, assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 86 — known as the Sidewinders — was captured by the camera just before departing the carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) in the Mediterranean Sea.

Just behid and to the left of the Super Hornet, you can see the steam cloud rising from the steam-powered catapult that essentially hurls aircraft off the carrier deck which is too short for a normal takeoff. Click here to see a video of a catapult assisted carrier launch.

The Eisenhower is deployed in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S.-led campaign against the violent extremist group that calls itself the Islamic State. The U.S. government calls the Islamist terror group the Islamic state in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Air crews from the “Ike” launched strikes against the Islamic State/ISIL forces in Iraq starting Tuesday (June 28), according to Navy Times. The Eisenhower relieved the homeward-bound USS Harry S. Truman, which has been on station in the Eastern Mediterranean since December, supporting the 6th Fleet’s campaign against the terrorist group.