Video: F-35C Launches From EMALS

Here's another PR victory for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. A Navy F-35C test jet launched from the sea service's next-generation electromagnetic catapult known as EMALS on Nov. 18, a move that combines two of the technologies that will be the hallmark of 21st Century naval aviation.

This comes a month after the highly publicized sea-trials of the short take-off and vertical landing F-35B aboard the USS Wasp, and the news that the overall JSF flight test program met its goals for 2011 a month early.

This announcement is the latest news from an F-35 program office that is on a full court press to show that it is righting the formerly beleaguered program in order to stave off budget cuts that Pentagon officials have famously warned about.