The best military photos of the week: September 19

There were a number of exercises commencing this week that delivered quite a few great action shots of the armed forces in action. At the top of the page, we have the launch of the ship-killing Harpoon cruise missile from the USS Stethem on the opening day of Exercise Valiant Shield.

Scroll down for the rest of this week's best photos, or check out our full gallery.



Zone 5 afterburners are alight on this US Navy F/A-18 Hornet, as it's catapulted off the deck of the USS George Washington. The GW, Stethem, and the USS Carl Vinson are all taking part in Valiant Shield 2014.



This week also marked the 67th birthday for the US Air Force. While the service has been around since the dawn of flight, it wasn't until 1947 that it was fully separated from the US Army. Here, we see a pair of F-16s from the New Jersey Air National Guard performing a flyby at Yankee Stadium in celebration of the USAF's birthday.



We're suckers for tall ships, and the USCGC Eagle is no exception. Here, the three-masted barque is seen in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, and was one of 30 vessels taking part in the Star-Spangled Spectacular.