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British F-35Bs to bring vertical landing abilities to highways

thedrive.com

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Re: British F-35Bs to bring vertical landing abilities to highways

#81

Post by Aeolun »

sillywalk wrote: post #55
chinathrow wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wonder about FOD. i.e. all the crap in and around a highway that could damage the engines.. They would send out personal to remove FOD (foreign object debris) before any operations and before laying those mats, I assume.

Just some musing on the logistics and difficulties etc. of theoretical "distributed" highway F-35b operations.. [Numbers found by google search :_) ] 30 ISO containers for just the runway, = 30+ vehicles, + munitions, spare parts, maintenance personnel, that computerized logistics thing - ODIN/ALIS, food and water, security for the personnel, generators to power all the computers to support the aircraft, . would ther…

I think this is one of those options you use after some of your airfields have been rendered inoperable. Then you transition the remaining personnel to your highways with a stack of containers from a random storage location.

Re: British F-35Bs to bring vertical landing abilities to highways

#82

Post by Sharlin »

sillywalk wrote: post #55
chinathrow wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wonder about FOD. i.e. all the crap in and around a highway that could damage the engines.. They would send out personal to remove FOD (foreign object debris) before any operations and before laying those mats, I assume.

Just some musing on the logistics and difficulties etc. of theoretical "distributed" highway F-35b operations.. [Numbers found by google search :_) ] 30 ISO containers for just the runway, = 30+ vehicles, + munitions, spare parts, maintenance personnel, that computerized logistics thing - ODIN/ALIS, food and water, security for the personnel, generators to power all the computers to support the aircraft, . would ther…

I’m sure Finland’s current F/A-18s also need tons of support infrastructure if you go by ~the book~a google search. That hasn’t stopped us from developing and drilling the capacity to routinely operate them from these highway bases with much lighter logistics if need be. As stated in the article, the RAF is coming to Finland to learn and conduct tests. And because we’re in the process of replacing the Hornets with (non-B) F-35s, the experiments will benefit us as well.

Re: British F-35Bs to bring vertical landing abilities to highways

#83

Post by Aeolun »

ethbr0 wrote: post #29
carabiner wrote: post #8

Sikorsky is gonna bring back the Comanche. I can feel it. Yeah baby!

That's the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) program. https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/30405/behold-sikorskys...

This looks like real life Airwolf

Re: British F-35Bs to bring vertical landing abilities to highways

#84

Post by ethbr0 »

dumpsterdiver wrote: post #46
albertopv wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tank days were numbered, and yet they still are heavily used

An aside thought: the days of soldiers riding horses into battle is currently considered to be an outdated mode of warfare. It seems quaint to even consider that one day warriors on horseback may again be the prominent warring force on our planet. And yet here we're are packed with nukes, as if we couldn't make it all happen.

Special forces notoriously rode horses early in the invasion of Afghanistan.

Delivering force and logistics to the desired location, in a way you can support, is the end goal.

In most of the industrialized world, there are better options. But there's a fair bit of the planet where animal transport is still optimal: hard to beat the fuel requirements.

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2019/10/18/...

Re: British F-35Bs to bring vertical landing abilities to highways

#85

Post by ethbr0 »

chipsa wrote: post #67
KingOfCoders wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have enough nuclear weapons to kill off humanity. They have not been used because of fear of retaliation, the number has been reduced because of costs. But the US with it's largest conventional military would benefit from a removal of all nuclear weapons. We'll see if Russia uses a tactical nuke when Ukraine enters Crimea. Biological weapons have been killed because they are hard to be used operationally. You don'…

Biological weapons also have the distinct problem of control: you can release them, but you can't stop them afterward. So, you need to be able to keep your own people safe from the release, which means expensive vaccinations across your population. And how do you test that your vaccination works? Or that it'll still work after your bioweapon mutates? Bioweapons are useless unless your goal is to kill off everyone.

Modern chemical weapons are a better example of a thing we've banned.

Re: British F-35Bs to bring vertical landing abilities to highways

#86

Post by Ekaros »

Sharlin wrote: post #74
madaxe_again wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can’t help but think it must be about protecting the aircraft rather than protecting the surface, as in ukraine roads are commonly built out of reinforced concrete slabs, and somewhat less commonly, but still frequently, they are built to take the weight of tanks, and are wide and straight enough to accommodate even large aircraft - there’s a strip of highway north of Mariupol that was originally built to accommoda…

Is concrete used much in Europe? I’d think asphalt is a much more common highway surface material.

Probably depends on climate. Asphalt handles freezing temperatures much better.

Re: British F-35Bs to bring vertical landing abilities to highways

#87

Post by tolien »

sillywalk wrote: post #18

"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…

> "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."

They did this before as part of an airshow demo. The Royal Engineers (Army co-operation!) had built pads at RAF Fairford for RIAT then the F-35B flew in, engaged STOVL mode (i.e. lift fan door open, rear engine nozzle pointed down etc.) and landed vertically on it then took off again.

Can't remember what year it was; Google suggests the MoD released PR saying they had done the same thing at Marham in 2018 but it's possible the demo was by a USMC F-35B.

Re: British F-35Bs to bring vertical landing abilities to highways

#88

Post by golergka »

gostsamo wrote: post #73
chipsa wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A Boeing 787 needs 2.8km of high-quality concrete for a runway. A F-35 is known to have low maintenance stealth coatings, so you don't need extensive overhaul every flight. If you're fighting other countries from Czechia, the most likely countries to fight are either Russia, or it's minion Belarus. In which case you're probably not worrying about the politics of using civilian infrastructure.

Or you are part of a NATO operation against Serbia. Mentioning it, because the conflict in Kosovo is not resolved yet.

Last time Serbia attempted to commit literal genocide, for the second time in less than a decade, for NATO to get involved. Do you think they'll start mass murders again?

Re: British F-35Bs to bring vertical landing abilities to highways

#89

Post by tomaytotomato »

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".

Re: British F-35Bs to bring vertical landing abilities to highways

#90

Post by smcl »

ethbr0 wrote: post #71
FirmwareBurner wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It's expensive to ask people to risk their lives for work. Unless you're in the Russian army.

The Russians are paying good-for-Russia bonuses to attract recruits, as well as giving anyone who fights or builds for the military in Ukraine veteran status.

They're promising good bonuses for signing up. There's a lot of complaints about people not actually getting what they've been promised.
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