FRIDAY FOTO (February 18, 2022)

Muscling a Missile.

(U.S. Air Force photo by Samuel King Jr.)

Despite the latest in high tech aircraft parked behind them, these airmen from the 43rd Fighter Generation Squadron have to lift an AIM-9 Sidewinder air intercept missile during a weapons load competition at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida on February 11, 2022.

Two teams competed to see who could load an AIM-120, an AIM-9 and chaff and flares onto their F-22 Raptor stealth jet fighter the fastest and with the fewest errors. The winner will be announced at the unit’s annual awards ceremony.

To learn a little more about the Raptor, and its troubled history, click here.