JSF Nails STOVL and Hovers

JSF Nails STOVL and Hovers

By Colin Clark Wednesday, March 17th, 2010 6:01 pm
Posted in Air, International, Naval

UPDATED: Hill Aide Says LockMar Has “long way to go to demonstrate max load bring back vertical landing.“

In a move that couldn’t be much better timed, the F-35B successfully executed a short take off and a landing, as well as a hover.

Lockheed Martin made sure every reporter knew the good news and fed pictures and videos to the media.

A congressional aide was wiling to pat the company on the back, sort of. “Good on them, but they, like you say, should have done this three years ago, and they have a long way to go to demonstrate max load bring back vertical landing. Now, all they can do is maybe fly a nice airshow for the Taliban,” the aide said..


Here’s the release. It pretty much tells the story:

The first Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] F-35B Lightning II short takeoff, vertical landing (STOVL) stealth fighter demonstrated the capability to hover today during a test flight at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. The flight was a significant test mission leading up to the aircraft’s first vertical landing. It confirmed predictions of the jet’s vertical thrust, stability and control in hovering flight. Today’s flight began with a conventional takeoff before F-35 lead STOVL Pilot Graham Tomlinson initiated conversion to STOVL mode at 200 knots airspeed. He then slowed the aircraft to 60 knots and flew a decelerating approach to a zero airspeed hover at 150 feet above the runway. This marked the first free air hover in the F-35B Lightning II aircraft. Upon reaching zero airspeed, the pilot executed test points to confirm the controllability of the aircraft in the hover. After completing all hover test points, the pilot executed a STOVL landing at 70 knots airspeed. Later in the day, BF-1 performed the first F-35 short takeoff. Matching performance predictions, the F-35B accelerated down the runway in STOVL mode and lifted off at 100 knots using less than 1000 feet of runway. Today’s successful tests are the latest steps in demonstrating the F-35B’s ability to conduct operations from small ships and unprepared fields, enabling expeditionary operations around the globe.

We won’t be spoil sports and point out just how many months late this is, as that would be churlish.

Join the Conversation

Weaponhead March 17th, 2010 at 10:19 pm

It is a good step but it doesn’t suddenly retire all of the risk associated with the vertical lift system. Given enough time and money it was going to happen.

Question: will it work day in and day out in an operational environment?

Weaponhead March 18th, 2010 at 2:54 am

The first 2 paragraphs of the report seem to imply that this event has saved the day and that all is now well. Just trying to ground this with some reality that rarely recognized by the F-35 program. Good step but many more to go.

Butters March 18th, 2010 at 3:09 am

Impressive enough, I guess. But didn’t the Hawker Kestrel perform a complete VTOL evolution almost 50 years ago?

qwerty March 17th, 2010 at 11:11 pm

I couldn’t find anywhere in the article that claimed all of the risk was finally/completely retired, and that no further tests were necessary. You seem to be trying to refute something, but I can’t tell what it is.

RSF March 18th, 2010 at 5:20 am

A good start, but a lot more is needed! I will be more impressed when I see a fully functional F-35B battle ready aircraft with several hundred STOVL test flights in a variety of conditions completed without problem. There is a lot more to do before we fully understand if this plane can be operational in realistic conditions

roland March 18th, 2010 at 5:52 pm

I like the F-35’s design but with one engine I am kinda skeptical if it have the thrust to carry heavy loads of missile armaments like what the F-22, F-16 and Hornet jets.

O. Leo Leahy March 18th, 2010 at 5:52 pm

Vertical Landing today? Sierra Hotel to GT and the entire JFS team.

DensityDuck March 18th, 2010 at 7:28 pm

He’s trying to No True Scot the successful test. “JSF has never had any successful tests!” “Really? Here it is succeeding at STOVL and hover.” “JSF has never had any successful tests of OPERATIONAL capability!”

BOOMER March 18th, 2010 at 9:05 pm

As already said, many more tests to go. The HARRIER was a real hoot in the press as well but many a pilot was injured or lost due to loss of controls, engine stalls and explosions. it will take a lot of operational hours to conclude when issues will arrise so that they can identify the proper maintenance cycle for the parts to hopefuly prevent a major misshap.

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