The F-35’s New, Much Better Nickname is “Panther”

Some of the best defense news in weeks—or maybe even months—is that U.S. Air Force pilots have nicknamed the F-35A fighter the “Panther.” This follows a long history of American warplanes receiving nicknames that become much more popular than their official names, and is a nice switchup from the plane’s poorly received official name “Lightning II.”

One of the most understated problems with the F-35—a plane with many problems—is the name. The F-35 was named after not one but two planes: the Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter of World War II, and the English Electric Lightning jet fighter of the Cold War. Like the F-35, the fork-tailed P-38 was also built by Lockheed Martin, and the United Kingdom would be one of the largest overseas customer of the Joint Strike Fighter.

More at: http://bit.ly/f-35-new

Music Credit:
– Hitman by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1300013
Artist: http://incompetech.com/