British F-35Bs to bring vertical landing abilities to highways(thedrive.com)
thedrive.com
British F-35Bs to bring vertical landing abilities to highways
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/british-f-35bs-to-bring-vertical-landing-abilities-to-highways
314 comments
Highway landing and take-off on its own is useless. F35 requires extensive machinery to maintain, in needs proper airport and hangars. It is not possible to operate it somewhere from forest! And vertical landing/takeoff can not support any load, it can not even be fully fuelled!
In Czechia we are replacing Gripens that can operate from almost anywhere. It only needs a few hundred meters of road, and single truck to refuel and restock ammunition.
Our new F35 will only be able to operate from a single runway in entire country!
In Czechia we are replacing Gripens that can operate from almost anywhere. It only needs a few hundred meters of road, and single truck to refuel and restock ammunition.
Our new F35 will only be able to operate from a single runway in entire country!
"FTA:
they would involve placing aluminum AM-2 mats along a strip of highway, up to 1,500 feet long. This will be sufficient for the stealth jets to carry out short takeoffs and vertical landings while protecting the road beneath them."
"AM-2 matting consists of 1 1/2" x 2' steel rectangles coated with a epoxy nonskid material, available in both 6 and 12 foot lengths, and are assembled in a brickwork pattern to form runways, taxiways, parking and other areas required for aircraft operations and maintenance. Thirty ISO containers can be constructed to form a 1,500 square foot vertical, short landing and take off airfield and can accommodate up to a total of eleven CH53, UH1, AH1 and AV8B aircraft. " [1]
I wonder about FOD. i.e. all the crap in and around a highway that could damage the engines..
[1] http://www.cassholdings.com/AM2.htm
"AM-2 matting consists of 1 1/2" x 2' steel rectangles coated with a epoxy nonskid material, available in both 6 and 12 foot lengths, and are assembled in a brickwork pattern to form runways, taxiways, parking and other areas required for aircraft operations and maintenance. Thirty ISO containers can be constructed to form a 1,500 square foot vertical, short landing and take off airfield and can accommodate up to a total of eleven CH53, UH1, AH1 and AV8B aircraft. " [1]
I wonder about FOD. i.e. all the crap in and around a highway that could damage the engines..
[1] http://www.cassholdings.com/AM2.htm
The F-35 obviously needs more preparation so they're really going to do it first with Typhoons and those are cool and potent aircraft even if they're not completely "Made in the USA (TM)".
There's an internal BAE project to give them updatable computers which can be ripped out and replaced every few years. Like the Gripen the idea is to separate the flight critical software, which needs lots of certification, from everything else which can then be updated much more easily and rapidly.
They've also been flight testing a radar that can do electronic warfare as well as its normal job and the Typhoon, like the Gripen and Rafale carries the Meteor BVRAAM which is exceptionally good because it has a long range and a lot of energy to maneuver at the point where its nearing its target.
There's an internal BAE project to give them updatable computers which can be ripped out and replaced every few years. Like the Gripen the idea is to separate the flight critical software, which needs lots of certification, from everything else which can then be updated much more easily and rapidly.
They've also been flight testing a radar that can do electronic warfare as well as its normal job and the Typhoon, like the Gripen and Rafale carries the Meteor BVRAAM which is exceptionally good because it has a long range and a lot of energy to maneuver at the point where its nearing its target.
Yeah cool, and can the support necessary to keep an F-35 active be performed on a road?
The Harrier and Gripens can and kinda were designed with that in mind. The F-35? I doubt it.
I'm sure on paper someone will write and another one will approve, but in reality and in a real war scenario I have serious reservations.
The Harrier and Gripens can and kinda were designed with that in mind. The F-35? I doubt it.
I'm sure on paper someone will write and another one will approve, but in reality and in a real war scenario I have serious reservations.
Has the RAF actually surveyed some of the motorways in the north of England recently?
I nearly broke a spring from a dipped pothole on the M6 south.
Not to forget all the smart motorway signs every 100 meters and signboards overhead, will make a landing "interesting".
I nearly broke a spring from a dipped pothole on the M6 south.
Not to forget all the smart motorway signs every 100 meters and signboards overhead, will make a landing "interesting".
Sikorsky is gonna bring back the Comanche. I can feel it. Yeah baby!
For reference here's a video of F-18 doing it (with conventional landing):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj_eJxy8ojk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj_eJxy8ojk
[deleted]
I still have no idea what to expect from the F35. I'm not someone that knows a lot about fighter aircraft. The F22 was quickly hailed as the pinnacle of what it was designed to do, essentially unmatched today. Then they just stopped making them.
Reviews of the F35 are vague. Israel is buying them but it's essentially getting them for free. So why not? Anyone have a true read on if the F35 is actually a dominant platform?
Reviews of the F35 are vague. Israel is buying them but it's essentially getting them for free. So why not? Anyone have a true read on if the F35 is actually a dominant platform?
Funnily enough, just came back from RIAT yesterday after seeing one of these pretty much hover in mid air... what a sight! amazing machines.
Wouldn't the F35-B be sensitive to random crap laying on the ground ? I don't know that its air intake was made for anything else than spotless surfaces. As far as I'm aware only the Soviets/Russians designed planes with that in mind.
Would this make highways a legitimate military target?
Highways will be able to land vertically with this technology?
Hmm, never knew they have highways in the UK.
Parking lots would make more sense than highways.
As long as our global society puts this much carbon in the atmosphere for "defence" purposes, we have no chance of maintaining a human-friendly climate on Earth in 20-30 years.
“in light of potential Russian aggression in Europe”
Who was it pushed NATO right up against Russia's border. Despite repeated statements from the Russians that there would be push-back. --
coob > “NATO have always been on Russia’s border.” (deleted)
On the Soviet Unions border. When the Soviets relinquished control of the client states to the west, they were given an understanding that NATO would not expand east.
(and modded down)
Who was it pushed NATO right up against Russia's border. Despite repeated statements from the Russians that there would be push-back. --
coob > “NATO have always been on Russia’s border.” (deleted)
On the Soviet Unions border. When the Soviets relinquished control of the client states to the west, they were given an understanding that NATO would not expand east.
(and modded down)
When I want to know more about the future of warfare as a hacker news reader I base my opinion on a few cherry picked twitter/reddit videos (plus literal Russian propaganda) and this makes me more knowledgable than military leaders and qualified to dictate the direction of military procurement.
Similar strips exist in Finland, Poland, Sweden and Switzerland. Though most of the German locations are now retired and removed.