What Is The ‘Pickle’ Button On Fighter Jets For?

Humans have constructed several different meanings for the word “pickle.” Literally, a pickle is a cucumber preserved and flavored in a brine or vinegar solution. You can also “pickle” other veggies in the same way. In baseball terms, “getting caught in a pickle” occurs when a player is running between two bases and is about to get tagged out.

The word has also become a synonym for “predicament” or “dilemma,” as in, “We’ve found ourselves in a bit of a pickle.” It appears to have stemmed from a diary entry made by English naval administrator and writer Samuel Pepys as far back as September 1660, in which he penned, “At home with the workmen all the afternoon, our house being in a most sad pickle.” 

This last meaning is similar to what the term “pickle” means in the context of a fighter jet. If you’re flying one of these aircraft, you might find yourself in a predicament that requires you to engage with the enemy. In doing so, you’ll use said pickle button, also known as the pickle switch, which is the devilishly small red button found on the flight control stick in a U.S. Air Force fighter jet. Pilots push this lone red button down with their thumb to drop the plane’s weapon ordinance onto a designated target.

The word “pickle” can actually be used as both a noun and a verb in a military context. As a verb, it can be used in a few ways, including in the phrase “pickling the bomb,” which means dropping a bomb. Pilots may also say “pickle” either to themselves or over the radio, depending on the situation, when the bomb has been dropped.

The military’s use of the word pickle seems to stretch back to the early 1900s, when sailors referred to torpedoes as pickles because of their similar shape. A torpedo or submarine could also be called a “tin pickle.” During WWII, the highly classified Norden M-9 bombsight was a piece of tactical equipment installed in U.S. Air Force bombers that gave them unmatched accuracy. According to the National Museum of the United States Air Force, this got exaggerated in a 1939 article that said airmen could “drop a bomb in a pickle barrel from 18,000 feet.”

Regardless, the USAF Dictionary defined the term “picklebarrel bombing” as precision bombing in 1956. Today the Air Education and Training Command Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures 11-1 manual used to teach fighter fundamentals uses the term “pickle” in the same context.