F-35 fighter jets’ elephant walk goes viral on YouTube

The US Air Force’s first combat power exercise, also called an elephant walk, using the F-35 stealth fighters is taking YouTube by storm. The F-35 aircraft, nicknamed Lightning II, is a fifth-generation fighter built by US arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin. Aircraft from two different air wings took part in the mission-readiness exercise in which 35 planes took off in 11 minutes from Hill Air Force Base in Utah. The multirole $90-million aircraft, which has vertical takeoff and landing capability, is called the Joint Strike Fighter because of the involvement of almost a dozen nations including the US, UK, Israel, Turkey, Canada, and Australia in its $1.5-trillion development program.