Afterburner on!
In this photo, a General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136 engine, the alternate power plant for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, is being tested at intermediate power conditions. The recent successful altitude testing of the engine took place at the Arnold Engineering Development Center’s aero-propulsion J-2 test cell. The team working on the project was testing augmentor performance and operability to meet mission requirements over a full envelope of altitude and Mach numbers. An augmentor, more commonly known as an afterburner, is like a long tailpipe behind the turbine into which additional fuel is sprayed and burned to provide additional thrust. (Photo by Rick Goodfriend)