Marine Corps F-35C spotted with submarine and drone kill markings

An image circulating online shows a US Marine Corps F-35C with an unusually varied set of mission markings, several of which appear to represent submarines.

The jet belongs to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 314, the Black Knights, and the photograph was taken as it returned from an operation against Iran.

A row of silhouettes on the left side of the forward fuselage, below the cockpit and ahead of the air intake, depicts the weapons carried: the AIM-120 air-to-air missile, the AGM-154 glide bomb and three variants of the GBU-31 and GBU-32 JDAM family. According to the image, tally marks beside each outline show how many of each were expended.

Other markings appear to show the kinds of targets struck, among them an oil tanker, three submarines, a surface combatant, a Shahed-type drone, an artillery piece and a number of ground-based launchers.

Submarines are seldom sunk in combat, which is why the markings have drawn attention. Earlier this month, a US Navy F/A-18F from Strike Fighter Squadron 41, the Black Aces, was photographed with a similar submarine silhouette at Naval Air Station Lemoore. That aircraft's marking was described as the first known instance of a Super Hornet carrying such a decoration.

Submarine kills by carrier aircraft are rare, and two aircraft from different services appearing with such markings suggests more than one undersea target was claimed during the operation.