The F-35B is the much acclaimed JOINT STRIKE FIGHTER Stealth.
Look here to see a movie of the aircraft going through its paces F35 LIGHTNING II JSF.wmv
Senior Royal Navy aviators have said that the
F-35B Lightning II successor to the Harrier will probably not land vertically on
British aircraft carriers. Instead it will employ the "Shipborne Rolling
Vertical Landing" (SRVL) technique as routine: it will be a running-jump jet, as
it were.
Rear Admiral Simon Charlier, head of the Fleet Air Arm, said that it would
probably not make sense to train pilots in both the straight-down and SRVL
methods of landing on a ship. "I think we'll find it makes sense to train just
for the rolling landing," he said. The Ministry of Defence is known to have
expended significant effort by boffins and test pilots on developing the SRVL
idea, having carried out trials using a Harrier aboard the French carrier
Charles de Gaulle.
The Royal Navy is particularly interested in the idea, as it will need to use
its future F-35Bs as air-to-air fighters as well as strike planes. The concern
regarding a normal vertical landing as employed by the existing Harrier force is
that the fighter needs to be able to fly a routine patrol fully armed and land
back on the ship without dumping weapons.
The F-35B, then, will need to be able to land on a ship - often in hot weather,
when jet engines lose thrust - still carrying 2 heavy AMRAAM missiles and a safe
minimum of fuel. The Sea Harrier could only manage this in cold northern waters,
hence its recent retirement. The F-35B, the world's first supersonic stealth
jumpjet, has yet to show just how good it is at hovering in proper flight tests,
though it has flown as a normal runway jet.
With an SRVL part-vertical, part-rolling landing, the F-35B would still make use
of its central lift fan and swivelling engine exhaust. However it will also gain
some extra lift from the wings, as it will still be moving forward.* According
to naval sources, this will not only let the jet bring back a heavy weapons
load, it will also mean less wear and tear on the engine. Jet engines
deteriorate much faster when run at high power owing to the huge internal
temperatures involved, so large amounts of maintenance (and therefore money) can
be saved by avoiding this.
According to Admiral Charlier, vertical and SRVL deck landings are both easier
to accomplish - and thus easier to train pilots for - than landing using
arrester wires and tailhooks as the US and French navies do.