EMALS & JPALS for the JSF

[madrat]

Can they reverse the process to get planes off the ground from austere basing? Maybe take off from a relatively short strip of land that has a wee bit of curve and obstacles to clear once airborne. Nobody would suspect a base being located under less than pristine conditions. Maybe you convert patches of remote mountain highways to disperse in less obvious locations.

I still like the idea of taking off from a downhill slope with the natural ogee shape on the upside of the next foothill to act as a ski ramp. Highways across the globe are loaded with nice ramps that could certainly act as opportunistic takeoff jumps or downhill starts. Surely with systems like this you could avoid lighting up the area to remain largely hidden from plain sight.

[spazsinbad]

Those take off highway ramps would have to have some clearance of obstacles also and not just a path via JPALS. The aircraft will likely be heavy for that take off on a mission, probably the landing strip will be dictated by the tactics.

Taking off HEAVY on RW 26 at NAS Nowra was particularly fraught on a HOT Windless Day as KIWI A-4Ks found also. The rising terrain off the end of that runway could be deceiving - one needed to know NATOPS charts to get the best result. The photo shows a BAD RAMP UP btw whilst the opposite direction is a GOOD RAMP with a deep gully off the runway 08.

That RW 08 take off here: viewtopic.php?f=58&t=23043&p=393920&hilit=Nowra#p393920

Some YABBA YABBA here: viewtopic.php?f=55&t=11311&p=391408&hilit=Nowra#p391408

Here we go we go go: viewtopic.php?f=55&t=11311&p=391325&hilit=Nowra#p391325

Your idea has been discussed before. Nice thing about ski jumps at sea: WOD straight ahead with NOTHING straight ahead.

GRAVITY ASSIST SKI JUMP: viewtopic.php?f=22&t=20426&p=232901&hilit=gravity+assist#p232901

[outlaw162]

You know, the ultimate goal of getting to a 0/0 auto-land, civil CAT 3C equivalent, has some interesting ramifications.

Let's say through simulations, bench-testing, flight testing, fail-passive or fail-active analysis, or whatever they use now, they get to the required mathematical confidence level in the system, 10 to the minus 9th or whatever is current. 0/0 or essentially no minimums are in place and here we go.

For the Navy, the auto-land ends within 20 cm of the desired spot, stopped in the arresting gear. Their problem becomes getting the aircraft clear and relocated, in conditions where you can barely see your hand in front of your face.....so the next guy can use it. Challenging.

For the expeditionary system, a few extra challenges:

You've tuned your MMR to the proper 5 digit channel for the approach assigned to you, coupled up your auto-pilot to the gold-plated quasi ILS signals being sent from the ground facility, and off you go. Fat city.

You touch down within 20 cm of the desired spot in the murk.....but you're still trucking along at 140 or so knots....

You need:

1. Roll-out guidance or

2. An auto-pilot that will stay coupled and perform the roll-out

And nice to have:

3. An auto-brake system

4. A digital readout of runway remaining in HDMS or HUD

You finally stop and realize now you have taxi or hover-taxi to the parking area in 0/0 at an 'austere' airfield. This is a real limitation on the system as far as operating conditions. Back to the old follow-me truck system?

As it stands right now, auto-land from the non-tactical civil LAAS type GLS approach is prohibited. They'll get there someday. Lowest minimums are 200 and 1/2. For the good old ancient ILS system, auto-land standard, lowest minimums allowed are CAT 3B which is a 300' RVR. Still taxi can be challenging and the airports that historically have periods of very low vis have installed SMGCS lighting, surface movement guidance and control system, not in the 'austere' category.

The only folks I can think of who actually operated 0/0 or below minimums were Air Defense Command interceptors when they had no choice. They also lost an occasional aircraft here and there due to wx.

[spazsinbad]

Perhaps the equipment will be best standard above operating standard so there is leeway for ops in less than zero/zero?

Perhaps the austere field will be virtually represented in HMDS for example? That tech is being worked upon these days.

[outlaw162]

Yep, I flown virtual displays in a HUD in a 738 sim and they were very nice. Not even counting restricted viz, with a high resolution terrain and obstacle database they are very useful at night.

Somewhere out there working on this stuff are rocket science level, brilliant engineers. They'll have to be (and I hope they're on our side).

edit: added obstacles (i.e. antennas, towers, bldgs, man-made stuff, etc)

[spazsinbad]

For some reason unknown to me this blog and the other one did not update for weeks until today so there is a backlog:

Navy Buys Tech that Can Land F-35s on Carriers with Pinpoint Accuracy
21 Jun 2019 Hope Hodge Seck

"...Raytheon is now pitching an expeditionary version of JPALS, easily transportable and designed to guide aircraft to safe landings on bare airfields. The whole system can fit in five transit cases, be transported by C-130 Hercules, and be assembled within 90 minutes, Raytheon says.

The Navy's future tanker drone, the MQ-25 Stingray, will also be JPALS-equipped; Jaynes said Raytheon is in talks with the service now about selling expeditionary JPALS for the MQ-25 program for shore-based tanker landings at locations like Norfolk, Virginia, or Point Mugu, California.

Meanwhile, she said, the Marine Corps is considering buying a single expeditionary JPALS system for testing in order to develop a concept of operations to employ it.

But "the closest customer outside of MQ-25 is actually the U.S. Air Force," Jaynes said. "They'd be able to move their aircraft possibly every 24 to 48 hours and do island-hopping in the Pacific. We're going over to [United States Air Forces in Europe -- Air Forces Africa] in July to talk with them about the system," she said."

Source: https://www.military.com/daily-news/201 ... ystem.html

[spazsinbad]

Page 24 this thread last word on AAG Advanced Arresting Gear - new word:

AAG ready for props and jets
12 Aug 2019 NavAir

"NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND, PATUXENT RIVER, Maryland -- The Navy’s newest aircraft carrier Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) system received the green light to recover all “props and jets” aircraft, according to the Aircraft Recovery Bulletin (ARB) released Aug. 2. The ARBs enable propeller aircraft: C-2A Greyhound, E-2C Hawkeye and E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, and jet aircraft: F/A-18E/F Super Hornet & E/A-18G Growler to perform flight operations aboard USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78).

“The entire team did a tremendous job accelerating the schedule and working through challenges,” said Capt. Ken Sterbenz, program manager for the Aircraft Launch and Recovery Equipment program office (PMA-251). “This achievement is another significant step toward ensuring the system can support the ship’s full airwing.”... [wotno F-35C?]

...The team, in collaboration with prime contractor General Atomics, continues to execute the requisite System Development and Demonstration testing at the land-based test sites located at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey. Mclean [Jeff Mclean, deputy program manager for AAG System Design and Development] added, comprehensive testing of new systems like AAG is critical, and not only ensures the technology meets Navy requirements, but also ensures it is operationally safe for use in the fleet.

Prior to Props and Jets ARB generation, the team conducted more than 2,500 dead-load arrestments at the Jet Car Track Site (JCTS) and 1,420 manned aircraft arrestments at the Runway Arrested Landing Site. “The pace of system testing was consistently demanding and required numerous team members to perform their duties in difficult conditions and in all types of weather in order to meet critical program milestones leading up to these ARB releases,” said Mclean.

USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) is the lead ship in the Ford-class of aircraft carrier, the Navy’s first new class of aircraft carriers in more than 40 years. The AAG system is designed to arrest a greater range of aircraft, reduce the fatigue impact load to the aircraft, and provide higher safety margins while reducing manpower and maintenance...."

Source: http://www.navair.navy.mil/news/AAG-rea ... 22019-0907

[spazsinbad]

T-45C gets the nod for AAG soonish: http://www.navair.navy.mil/news/AAG-sta ... 72019-1547

I wonder if these/this satdish will fly for exped JPALS: https://sldinfo.com/whitepapers/gatr-cu ... nications/

SatDish VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/212601550

http://www.navair.navy.mil/sites/g/file ... 99-001.jpg

[spazsinbad]

Raytheon's F-35 precision landing system can be set up anywhere in less than 1.5 hours
16 Sep 2019 RAYTHEON PR

"DULLES, Va., Sept. 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- A Raytheon Company team recently conducted a rapid set up demonstration of a land-based expeditionary version of its Joint Precision Approach and Landing System to a group of global military officials at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, MD. JPALS is a GPS-based precision landing system that guides aircraft to precision landings in all weather and surfaces conditions.

"The entire system was fully operational in 70 minutes on Day One and 50 minutes on Day Two," said Matt Gilligan, vice president at Raytheon's Intelligence, Information and Services business. "Raytheon is offering the U.S. and its allies fast and accurate precision landing systems that support operations from bare-base locations."

During the demonstration, military officials from all four services, as well as representatives from Japan, United Kingdom, The Netherlands, and Italy, watched multiple F-35Cs land on the same designated runway landing point every time over the course of six different approaches.

This was the second proof-of-concept event in 2019 showing how F-35s can use a reconfigured mobile version of JPALS to support landings in austere environments...."

Source: https://www.defensenews.com/digital-sho ... le-design/

JPALS Set Up NAS Patuxent River Demonstration Sep 2019 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKVl2PdvONk

[spazsinbad]

Is this USAF 'online notice' a way to get JPALS? What other system is there? Is someone else going to develop another one?

USAF looks for expeditionary precision landing system for Pacific
18 Oct 2019 Garrett Reim

"The US Air Force (USAF) is looking for a precision approach landing system to enable its aircraft to land at expeditionary air strips on islands in the Pacific Ocean.

The service is asking military contractors to submit white papers that outline component-level designs and trade-off analyses to determine the right mix of requirements necessary for a Small Footprint Precision Approach and Landing Capability (SF-PALC) system, [Shirley JPALS? - oh well go on - re-invent the wheel] it says in an online notice on 17 October.

The USAF would use information from the white papers to set requirements for a separate contract to fund development of prototypes from one or more manufacturers. A production contract could follow the prototyping phase, says the service.

The expeditionary precision approach landing system is needed to help the USAF carry out its Agile Combat Employment (ACE) strategy in the Pacific Ocean. The strategy is a response to China’s precision, long-range missiles, which could hit US aircraft parked on the tarmac. To avoid losses on the ground, the USAF plans to fly from a greater number of air bases, of sizes small and large, so as to increase the number of targets an adversary would need to attack.

However, the agile-basing plan requires the service to constantly keep its aircraft on the move, so that the Chinese military doesn’t have time to spot and attack US jets. “The ACE concept is basically having a jet land [at a remote location], then a team of maintainers re-arms and refuels the jet, and sends it back into the fight as quickly as possible,” says Master Sargent Edmund Nicholson of 67th aircraft maintenance unit, which is based at Kadena air base in Japan. He explained the concept via an USAF media release about an agile combat exercise at Fort Greely, Alaska in August 2019.

In order for a jet to land at a remote island air strip – a runway without the usual navigation and air traffic control infrastructure – the USAF needs portable equipment. The service wants its SF-PALC system to be small enough to fit onto one 463L pallet, which would be airlifted inside one Lockheed Martin C-130H cargo transport. The system must also be able to be setup and operated in a GPS-denied environment, says the USAF....

...Raytheon has said it plans to demonstrate expeditionary versions of JPALS to the USAF." <sigh>

Source: https://www.flightglobal.com/news/artic ... te-461599/

[outlaw162]

The system must also be able to be setup and operated in a GPS-denied environment, says the USAF....

Interesting. This could imply a concept like the old TLS (Transponder Landing System). The TLS also has off-axis runway approach capability, but I don't believe it's capable of curved RF (radius-to-fix) turn approaches like GPS, so that last turn to lineup takes a bit of finesse. The big limitation is you can only have one aircraft at a time on the approach, but the advantage is no GPS required and ILS-equivalent accuracy. And it's basically self contained between the aircraft and ground facility with a single transponder code involved.

We did a number of simulator tests (day and night) on TLS around 2008 to see what combinations of off-axis angle and distance from threshold to establish wings level were optimum for transport category, using the most adverse winds and austere runway lighting. I'm sure a fighter aircraft type would allow increased off-axis angle and decreased distance from the threshold to intersect the centerline combos. Might actually be a good fit, and it can also be aligned with the runway CL if terrain conditions permit.

[outlaw162]

You know, it occurred to me to add a comment, that as bad as the military not having JPALS would be as a result of some sinister denial of GPS....can you imagine the monumental effect on innocent civilian populations worldwide?

How did early humans manage to quickly find a lingerie boutique, a pizza parlor or even a sports bar without GPS....and the obligatory smartphone?

[element1loop]

How did early humans manage to quickly find a lingerie boutique ...

Instinct.

[spazsinbad]

You know, it occurred to me to add a comment, that as bad as the military not having JPALS would be as a result of some sinister denial of GPS....can you imagine the monumental effect on innocent civilian populations worldwide? How did early humans manage to quickly find a lingerie boutique, a pizza parlor or even a sports bar without GPS....and the obligatory smartphone?

Straight from the 'top of me dome' (rock rock de microphone) US is putting up better military GPS satellites. JPALS uses encrypted GPS - no? Close in ship broadcasts signals for the 'relative GPS' so perhaps a function of that ashore for close-in Pacific Island approaches will do the trick. But I'm just spitballin' here. Perhaps for the sake of competition is de notice.

Comparison Freestyler 1999-2019 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSzSxF5jojc

[outlaw162]

No GPS -> no JPALS, encrypted or not. SF-PALC concept is not so much re-inventing the wheel, but seems to be more in the category of thinking outside the box the wheel comes in.

I think they may be thinking in terms of SAT killers....but no worries, we now have the vaunted Space Force. Anyway back to my fallout shelter....ah I can hear "Waltzing Matilda" on the hand cranked turntable now.