The U.S. Marine Corps 122nd Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA-122) conducted the first F-35B vertical/short takeoff and landing fighter operations on a short runway at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) in Yuma, California, in support of Expeditionary Advance Base Operations (EABO), April 6, 2021, according to overseas defense media.
This seemingly unremarkable flight training demonstrated the F-35B’s short-range landing skills for the first time, enabling Marine Corps pilots to conduct short-range landings not only on amphibious assault ships, but also on airfields and even highways around the world where the F-35B fighters are heavily damaged or in poor infrastructure conditions.
Photo: F-35B vertical/short takeoff and landing fighters performing short-range taxi landings.
Why is the skill of short-range landing important?
Let’s first look at the development of vertical/short takeoff and landing fighters regarding landing methods.
Early vertical / short takeoff and landing fighters should actually be called vertical takeoff and landing fighters, mainly for emergency takeoff after the destruction of the runway during the Cold War, or deployed in the forest landing area for vertical takeoff and landing operations.
MK3 attack aircraft and the Soviet Navy Yak-38 “Blacksmith” fighter. These fighters basically took off and landed vertically, but the problem was that they consumed a lot of fuel, had a short range and radius of operation, and could only conduct limited interception operations or close support operations.
MK3 attack aircraft with vertical takeoff and vertical landing, with a radius of less than 100 km.
Photo: The Yak-38, also with vertical takeoff and vertical landing, was used on the Kiev-class aircraft carriers with limited effectiveness.
Later, the British invented the sliding takeoff deck, allowing the Royal Navy’s Sea Harrier to take off by sliding, which was much more fuel-efficient than a full vertical takeoff and greatly improved the fighter’s combat radius and load-carrying efficiency.
Later versions of the Harrier and Sea Harrier were capable of short-range glide takeoff, while the Soviet Yak-141 short-range/vertical takeoff and landing fighter was to be deployed on the Admiral Kuznetsov “The Yak-141 is also capable of short takeoff as it will be deployed on the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier, which also has a sliding takeoff deck.
Photo: British Sea Harrier fighters leap from the slip deck of an Invincible-class carrier, a short takeoff.
However, for landing, these fighters will still basically choose to land vertically.
The basic operation is to slowly hover on the side of the carrier deck like a helicopter, then slowly slide sideways toward the carrier, align with the landing area, and land vertically.
Basically, there is no conventional landing method of short distance.
Even the most advanced F-35B fighters have previously used a short takeoff and vertical landing.
Photo: Sea Harrier FRS.51 hovering vertically ready to land.
Photo: US AV-8B Harrier II fighter jets slowly landing vertically on an amphibious assault ship.
Photo: Yak-141 fighter hovering above the aircraft carrier preparing for vertical landing.
So, this time, the F-35B fighter has achieved a short landing, which means that the aircraft is in a position to land on aircraft carriers or amphibious assault ships with short runways without the use of blocking hooks and blocking cables.
This will further reduce the fuel consumption of the F-35B during landing, which means that it will further expand its combat radius and range, and has a very important tactical value.
In addition, with these technologies, the U.S. Marine Corps could deploy to some of the less basic airfields overseas, greatly expanding the Marine Corps’ ability to project combat power.
Image: The F-35B can take off short distances on U.S. amphibious assault ships that do not have a sliding deck, thanks to its powerful power.
Image: The F-35B previously still used vertical landings, which had the disadvantage of high fuel consumption.
The concept of supporting Expeditionary Advance Base Operations (EABO) was also introduced in the report.
“Expeditionary Advance Base Operations” (EABO), or the pre-positioning of ground forces to islands or shores close to the enemy to help win naval battles.
EABO intends to use island outposts to reverse the adversary’s (CCP) anti-access/area denial (A2/ AD) strategy and help U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force forces survive and fight against enemy sensors and long-range precision strike weapons.
Photo: Schematic of the U.S. Expeditionary Advance Base Operations (EABO) concept of operations.
The expeditionary forward base is not a fixed location.
It is more like a “package of capabilities” tailored to a specific mission, such as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) systems, future anti-ship cruise missiles, and forward munitions and refueling points that can also hold or at least contest control of sea lines of communication and straits to deter enemy use.
In this concept, the U.S. military would not only deploy amphibious assault ships, but also propose floating island bases where F-35B fighters could take off and land. this test of the F-35B is apparently being conducted to accommodate use on amphibious assault ships and floating island bases.
Photo: Floating island base concept in EABO, using short takeoff vertical landing type F-35B and sliding deck.
And once this skill of the F-35B is widely used, it will greatly enhance its combat capability on the naval battlefield. A larger combat radius and more payload will enable it to further suppress its predecessor fighters.
Recent Comments