FRIDAY FOTO (November 23, 2018)

Lightning Strike.

(U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sergeant Cory D. Payne)

We haven’t used an Air Force photo for the Friday Foto in a while so we decided on this visually arresting shot, taken November 19, 2018.

It shows a formation of Air Force F-35 Lightning IIs performing aerial maneuvers during a combat power exercise over the Utah Test and Training Range.

The F-35 program is a family of single-seat, single-engine, all weather, multi-role stealth fighter jets for the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force — as well as foreign partners: Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Australia, Norway and Denmark.

The fifth (latest) generation radar-evading jet has been called the most expensive weapons system in history, and its development was beset by multiple delays before it was deemed combat ready. That changed last month, when a Marine Corps jet launched from the amphibious warship USS Essex struck targets in Afghanistan.