F-35B makes 1st vertical landing on US Navy vessel

JEFFHEAD.COM ^ | Ocotber 5, 2011 | Jeff Head

[rlmorel]

"...What happens in 20’ seas? That must be challenging..."

I can't imagine it would be even more challenging than performing a traditional trap in those seas...

[hattend]

bttt

[Jeff Head]

Italy, Spain, Australia, Korea, Japan, France, even Thailand all have VSTOL carriers...and maybe ultimately ther UK will reconsider.

See WORLD-WIDE AIRCRAFT CARRIERS for a full list of all carriers and large, flat deck amphibious vessels.

Here's an image of all aircraft carrietr types around the world. There would be a lot of allied customers.

[Jeff Head]

Specifically, here's an image of all the STOL carrier types out there right now:

Again, at: WORLD-WIDE AIRCRAFT CARRIERS

[GeronL]

but if they can’t get more customers for the B variant, would they really consider canceling it? What would the Marines do then? crazy

[Kenny Bunk]

As you should know, A.A., landing aeroplanes of any sort aboard a naval vessel is actually impossible due to the Coriolis Effect. Also A.A., flying machines, particularly those powered by petrol engines, leave ghastly grease spots everywhere. On board a naval vessel, this is unacceptable.

[GeronL]

NICE pics!

[Oztrich Boy]

The thing that caught my eye was the calm seas that this took place in. What happens in 20’ seas? That must be challenging.

A lot easier than an arrested landing

• Easier to "stop then land" than "land then stop"
• landing can be amidships where vertical movement of the deck is minimised

[Jeff Head]

Yes...they gave up an internal bay for weapons...but that's a trade off you have to make to get the VSTOL capability. They still have the side bays, and of course underwing mounts (which impact stealth).

However, given their better stealth in any case, their range, their speed, and manueverability, they will be a big improvement.

Now, if the US Navy will develop an AEW variant of the V-22, and an ASW variant of the same, you have the opportunity to turn the USS America and other large deck vessels into powerful power projection units. You could use one to escort a Phibron without having to dedicate a nuclear carrier to it.

Our allies would see a huge value in that too. Their smaller carriers which currently do not have the AEW range or long-legs for their ASW, and who are outfitted with the shorter-range, much less capable HArriers, would now have small "Jeep" carriers packing a lot of wallup.

[PapaBear3625]

Kind of like the Osprey only much more expensive.

The osprey has a top speed of 351 mph, can't carry missiles, and has no tracking radar/avionics for missiles even if attached. It's purely a troop/cargo transport.

[Jeff Head]

The UK has retired its navla harriers, but the US Marines are still using theirs. IMHO, they will not be retired until these come online to replace them.

[GeronL]

great pics and info on your site, btw

[Jeff Head]

The V-22 is proving very effective now that the hitches have been worked out. With the various possibilities of an ASW SV-22, and an AEW variant, in addition o the Marine assault version, the Air Force SPECOPS version and the Navy HV022, the V-22 is revoultionizing a lot of things and providing an absolutely outstanding capability.

I believe that the F-35B will do the same in time. The ability to have that type of close support and fleet defense available from nuclear carriers down to the SVTOL vessels of the US NAvy and our allies will be a very clear advantage for us.

[GeronL]

don’t forget theV-22 is faster and has much longer range than the old, old helicopters they are replacing!

[Jeff Head]

I believe it will be like the Osprey. The Marines and their supporters in congress, the public, and the military are very heavily invested into this aircraft (and understandably so). I do believe they will work through whatever issues they face (like the Osprey) and ultimately produce a very valuable and well used aircraft.

Once it is, the foreign customers (who are also investing in it as we speak) will benefit and buy and utilize them as well.

[Jeff Head]

Thanks...been working on that one for years and trying to keep it up to date.

Here are a three more if you are interested:

US NAVY 21ST CENTURY

AEGIS VESSELS OF THE WORLD

THE RISING SEA DRAGON IN ASIA

[GeronL]

Thanks a lot. I will make it one of my go-to reference sites for this kind of info.

[Jeff Head]

Has it taken off?

Yes it has. Here's a US Navy video of the same:

US NAVY Video of Take off from th USS Wasp

[The Shrew]

Howdy Jeff,

A very good friend of mine is C.O. of the USS Wasp.

I know she did a great job of supervising this test.

Semper Fi,

TS

[trapped_in_LA]

My point is that both of these systems (F-35B and SV-22) fail from a cost to benefit analysis, they are both gold plated solutions. They cost so much that we ultimately end up buy far fewer of them than we actually need rather than going with a simpler solution that’s cheaper and that allows us to buy many more of them. If we ever get into another “real war” with an enemy that has rough parity with the US forces as far as technology (think China, Russia, India) then it becomes a war of attrition where although your gee-wiz technology may get you a better kill ratio than the enemy (actually they have found that it is more a function of training now days as the hardware on the other side is pretty close in performance to ours) you are still grossly out gunned and will loose. Just look at a scenario of China invading Taiwan, if we got into a shooting match we could go through our inventory in quick order.