The US Navy shows two of its F-35C fighters with a curious mirror coating

The F-35 Lightning II fifth-generation stealth fighter made its first flight on December 15, 2006, and entered service in 2015.

Portugal and Canada put the Spanish Navy in a difficult situation in relation to the F-35 fighter
The spectacular display of an F-35C, the largest and heaviest version of this fighter

However, development testing of this advanced fighter continues to this day, as could be seen yesterday with a series of photos published by the US Navy on DVIDShub.net in which we see two F-35Cs, the naval CATOBAR version (for takeoff on aircraft carriers equipped with launch and landing catapults with arresting hooks) of this stealth fighter, with an unusual appearance.

These F-35Cs feature a curious mirror coating that covers much of the fuselage and the aircraft's fins. The nose (where the radar is housed), the underside of the wings, and the belly of the aircraft appear to retain the familiar F-35 appearance. The aircraft photographed are 168733 XE-100 and 168842 XE-105, according to The Aviationist.

These photos were taken at Naval Air Station (NAVSTA) Point Mugu, California, although there is some discrepancy regarding the date. DVIDShub.net indicates they were taken on April 28, 2025, but the EXIF ​​data indicates the date as August 30, 2022. Therefore, these images would have been withheld for almost three years before being released.

According to data provided by the US Navy, the two F-35Cs seen in these photos belong to Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Nine (VX-9) "The Vampires", an experimental unit created on June 18, 1951, based in China Lake, California, which today operates F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and F-35C fighters. VX-9 is famous for the black liveries of its aircraft, which for a long time featured their Playboy White Rabbit derbies. A sign of irreverence that was banished with the introduction of the Super Hornets to this unit (we can see an F/A-18F from this unit here).

The arrival of the F-35Cs to VX-9 broke the tradition of black liveries, as the gray paint of the fifth-generation fighter has been designed to help avoid reflecting radar signals.

This is not the first time US Navy F-35Cs have been seen with mirror-like coatings. On December 1, 2023, the US Navy public two photos showing an F-35C, 168846 NJ-422, assigned to fighter-attack squadron VFA-125 "Rough Raiders", landing on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) on November 30 of that year. This aircraft displayed mirrored panels on the underside of its tail fins, both exterior and interior. The US Navy did not clarify the purpose of these panels.

Additionally, on July 12, 2023 the US Navy released this photo of a VX-9 F-35C, 168842 XE-105 (one of two seen in the photos released yesterday) taking off from NAVST Point Mugu:

The aircraft was showing a strange appearance, with a darker appearance instead of the usual gray F-35 paint. Significantly, this photo was taken on August 23, 2022, a week before the photos released yesterday. We now know that the aircraft in this photo did not have darker paint, but rather mirror-like panels that show a different appearance depending on the viewing angle. The possible purpose of these mirror panels is to reduce the aircraft's infrared signature, in order to ward off heat-seeking air-to-air missiles, but it remains to be seen whether these panels will sacrifice radar signature.