When Britain’s F-35B Lightning II streaks into view - low, lean and stealthy - you might sometimes see a bright handful of pyrotechnic flares ejecting from the aircraft. Those streaks aren’t for show: they are one element of a layered defensive system designed to protect the jet and its pilot from heat-seeking threats, and in some situations they act as an immediate deterrent to hostile systems. This post explains what those flares are, how they fit into the F-35’s broader de