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Jet fighter

The F-35 in the path of John's semi truck.

Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a family of single-seat, single-engine, fifth generation multirole fighters under development to perform ground attack, reconnaissance, and air defense missions with stealth capability.

The fighter appeared in Live Free or Die Hard. The pilot of the fighter jet was played by the film's director Len Wiseman.

Live Free or Die Hard[]

At the request of FBI Deputy Director Miguel Bowman, Pentagon send the F-35 Lightning to Woodlawn to keep an eye on things until the FBI gets there.

Cap425

F-35 Lightning fighter

Once the fighter jet was hovering above, terrorist mastermind Thomas Gabriel has his hacker Trey patch him through to the pilot. Once it was done, Gabriel deceives the pilot aboard the F-35 Lightning to attack the semi-truck that was hijacked by John McClane, tricking him into believe that the target is a terrorist vehicle. As it was attacking the vehicle with it's missiles, it misses the vehicle when the missiles hit the highway's concrete pillars. As the truck went into the highway, the fighter fires its General Dynamics GAU-22/A 25mm auto cannons, damaging the trailer of the semi-truck. When the truck was unable to continue, the fighter goes for the final shot. But the crumbling highway debris hits the fighter's engine, causing it to be on the flat spin. McClane gets on the tail of the plane. As the pilot ejects safely, McClane jumps from the plane onto the damaged ramp as the F-35 crashed and exploded behind him.