F-35B UK SRVL info - Updated when new/old info available

[spazsinbad]

F-35B SRVL Touchdown Only Port Side QUEEN ELIZABETH https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejVKzhZSQWs

[quicksilver]

Couple other interesting things of note —

The comment from ‘Wings’ (US equivalent = the Air Boss) about the need to make sure the helmet alignment was tight, and use of the fcam. Seems they were including some test points prerequisite for night SRVL.

[spazsinbad]

Not sure if some info here is correct or just 'the usual bad memes wot never die'; STRN are FISHheads-aviation not forte.

Up close with HMS Prince of Wales as the Royal Navy’s second aircraft carrier arrives in Portsmouth
17 Nov 2019 SaveTheRoyalNavy [LAST PARA about SRVLs in EARLY 2021 so the JointForceETC is NOT IN A HURRY]

"...An example of financial savings was in the application of the Team Metallic Spray (TMS) paint [THERMAL... (not paint)] which protects the deck from the great heat of F-35 jet efflux [BAD MEME] . Application of this coating cost around £35 Million for QNLZ but for her sister, it will be less than half this figure due to improved performance in the process. Integration of the mission systems on QNLZ cost around £23 Million but was reduced by experience to £15M for the second ship. Overall the ACA say the total construction cost of PWLS was around 19% less than the lead vessel and work was completed in about two-thirds of the time....

…[PWLS] Captain Houston [Captain Houston spent three years as the second in command of HMS Queen Elizabeth (QNLZ) before becoming the CO of HMS Prince of Wales (PWLS). Having previously brought HMS Dragon out of build and served in HMS Illustrious as a navigator specialist] revealed that PWLS is very slightly longer, wider and heavier than QNLZ and also achieved a higher top speed than her sister during the trials....

...The ship will be alongside in Portsmouth until February 2020 when she will return to sea to begin a further phase of trials and work up. She will conduct helicopter flying when at sea in 2020 but the first F-35 jets will not embark in PWLS until early 2021. Like QNLZ, the ship did not leave Rosyth fully complete and will go through a series of incremental Capability Insertion Periods (CIP) while alongside in between time spent at sea. PWLS will be declared fully operational sometime in 2023.

One small difference between the two carriers is that PWLS has been fitted with the Bedford Array which consists of a series of lights embedded in the flight deck. [another BAD MEME] [I have been reassured several times that QE does have a BEDFORD ARRAY] This visual landing aid is will assist F-35 pilots making the Shipborne Rolling Vertical Landing (SRVL) manoeuvre. An initial test of SRVL was made onboard QNLZ in 2018 but PWLS will conduct further SRVL trials in early 2021 to expand operating envelope with heavier aircraft loads and in more demanding weather conditions."

Source: https://www.savetheroyalnavy.org/up-clo ... ortsmouth/

[timmymagic]

Not sure if some info here is correct or just 'the usual bad memes wot never die'; STRN are FISHheads-aviation not forte.

The bit about QE not having the Bedford Array is correct. It will be fitted in the first re-fit period, but is fitted onboard PoW from the off. It essentially wasn't specced and ready for the QE build.

[spazsinbad]

For now you'll have to provide more info about your assertion including an answer to the question: "How did the F-35Bs carry out the first SRVLs aboard QE without the Bedford Array". An authoritive e-mail correspondent has assured me several times that the Bedford Array is installed aboard QE. It may need to be modified though (according to suggestions contained in earlier stories). I think one or more articles say the Bedford Array is installed on QE - makes sense to me.

[aussiebloke]

Could it be that HMS Queen Elizabeth has a partial or incomplete installation of the Bedford Array? The fixed array lights are present on the carrier as far as I can tell.

As might be expected, the DT-1/DT-2 trials identified a handful of sub-optimal aspects. For example, initial SRVL trials showed that the lighting in the fixed array visual landing aid requires refinement.
“The [fixed array] reds were very bright, but the whites were surprisingly ‘un-bright’,” explained Wilson. “None of the prior modelling had suggested that would be the case. We ended up actually having to paint some lines on the flight deck to aim at.

This can only be the Bedford Array fixed array of lights surely?
Page 32 of http://dl.booktolearn.com/emagazines2/a ... 9_c9b9.pdf

Incidentally several online sources say the new name for the Bedford Array is the “SRVL Array”.

From an Aviation Week article that is only available to subscribers so I am forced to rely on a reprint in a forum:

British Carrier Trials Test Unique Landing Capability
Oct 24, 2018 Tony Osborne | Aviation Week & Space Technology

To perform the first SRVL landings, Wilson flew several SRVL approaches that were waved off at 500, 350 and 150 ft., allowing him to fly the approach to the stern using the SRVL array - a glidepath alignment cue also known as the Bedford Array - that when combined with a ship reference velocity vector in a helmet-mounted display enables pilots to fly an accurate glidepath. However, the Queen Elizabeth is yet to be fitted with the gyro-stabilized version of this system.

http://www.thefifthcolumn.xyz/Forum/vie ... 70&page=13

[notkent]

There is a little more details in this 10/2 aviation week article;

'Given that the future development testing will largely focus on further development of the SRVL capability, it is likely that round of trials will take place on the Queen Elizabeth’s sister ship, HMS Prince of Wales, says Royal Air Force Air Commo. Paul Godfrey, head of UK Carrier Enabled Power Projection (CEPP).

The second ship, which formally began sea trials on Sept. 22, will be the first of the two ships to be equipped with a fully stabilized Bedford Array, a glidepath alignment cue that uses lights that can be aligned with a ship reference velocity vector in the pilot’s helmet-mounted display and allows the pilot to fly an accurate glidepath to the deck, even in higher sea states. Helicopters have already begun performing deck landings on the Prince of Wales, and the ship is expected to be formally commissioned into Royal Navy service before year-end."

[spazsinbad]

'OZZIEbloke' thanks for the links and for going to that 'search' trouble. Back here is the 6 page article PDF from relevant Airforces Monthly Feb 2019 article you reference: viewtopic.php?f=58&t=15969&p=410018&hilit=AirForces#p410018

F-35B CVF Trials AirForces Monthly Feb 2019 pp6.pdf (1.7Mb): download/file.php?id=29435

'notkent' thanks for your search & the second link to another AvWEAK article... it would be nice to know what 10/2 means. I'm not 'merican so always struggle with dates hence the way dates are cited by me (& others - probably non'merican aslo) Day Month Year is always clear. Thanks - a date really helps google-fu whilst AUTHOR is even mo betta.

British Carrier Trials Test Unique Landing Capability
24 Oct 2018 Tony Osborne | Aviation Week & Space Technology

"With British test pilots performing the first shipborne rolling vertical landings (SRVL) with the Lockheed Martin F-35B onto the new HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier, the technique comes one step closer to operational use after 20 years in development.

Combining both powered- and wingborne lift, the SRVL enables a low-speed rolling landing onto the deck, allowing F-35s to return to the carrier with more fuel and expensive, unused precision-guided ordnance that might otherwise have to be jettisoned into the sea if the aircraft needed to make a vertical landing.

Use of SRVL is forecast to give the F-35B a bring-back payload gain of around 2,000 lb., the equivalent of four Paveway IV bombs.

- Two SRVL landings have been conducted on HMS Queen Elizabeth so far
- Second round of flight testing due to begin in early November

Engineers also believe it can reduce wear and tear on the engines, extending their life.

The first SRVL onto the Queen Elizabeth was performed by BAE Systems test pilot Pete Wilson on Oct. 13; the second was conducted by Royal Air Force test pilot Sqdn. Ldr. Andy Edgell two days later, closing out the first round of development testing (DT-1) or first of class flight trials onboard the ship.

UK engineers and test pilots have been at the heart of SRVL development, with both simulated and live flying trials. Initial efforts saw the use of a modified two-seat Harrier known as the Vectored thrust Aircraft Advanced Control flying SRVL approaches and then landings onto the UK's Invincible-class and French Charles de Gaulle carriers, respectively. Russian engineers tested a similar capability with the Yakolev Yak-38 "Forger" during the 1980s, and recently the U.S. Navy assessed the potential of a rolling landing for the carrier onboard-delivery version of the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor.

Performing SRVLs was originally meant to be part of the DT-2, which is scheduled to start in early November, following the ship's visit to New York.

However, a brief pause in F-35 operations related to the crash of a U.S. Marine Corps F-35B on Sept. 28 resulted in flight operations of one of the development aircraft, BF-5, being suspended for inspections. With the remaining aircraft BF-4 not equipped to perform test points that had been planned, it was decided to bring forward trials of SRVL.

"Although we had planned SRVL for DT-2, there was always the option of moving test points into the other test phases," Wilson tells Aviation Week.

"We really cracked on with the flight trials in the first 10 days to two weeks," he says, and indicates that the DT-1 may have already yielded enough data to support shipboard operational testing planned for 2019.

To perform the first SRVL landings, Wilson flew several SRVL approaches that were waved off at 500, 350 and 150 ft., allowing him to fly the approach to the stern using the SRVL array (a glidepath alignment cue also known as the Bedford Array) that when combined with a ship reference velocity vector in a helmet-mounted display enables pilots to fly an accurate glidepath. However, the Queen Elizabeth is yet to be fitted with the gyro-stabilized version of this system.

The second ship, HMS Prince of Wales, will have it fitted from launch.

The first SRVL was performed in benign sea conditions, notes Wilson, with wind over the deck at around 25 kt. with +/- 2-kt. safety margin. But just moments before landing, gusting surged by 10 kt., increasing the aircraft overtake speed to 35 kt. from the planned 25.

Wilson landed the aircraft at the 755-ft. mark on the deck. By braking, the aircraft came to a stop at the 580-ft. mark, just in-line with the ship's second superstructure. Braking is assisted by the aircraft's Power Nozzle Thrust mode, which moves the engine nozzles forward of the vertical and acts like a thrust reverser by providing some additional braking action.

"We took the decision to shut down after the landing because that section of the deck had not been used for landing operations," says Wilson.

With no arrestor gear onboard, SRVL has some inherent risks because the aircraft must rely on its own brakes to stop. However, pilots will be trained in the simulator to perform the F-35B equivalent of a "bolter" or go-around after touchdown, but there are no plans to attempt this during the flight trials.

Wilson says that SRVL landings of up to 40 kt. of overtake will be safely possible.

"Performing a vertical landing is extremely straightforward, especially on the Queen Elizabeth. You have a big deck that really does not move very much."

By comparison, the SRVL comes with a slightly higher workload, he says. "There is more fuel management to consider and more lateral handling."

Just slight corrections in the cockpit were perceived as more significant to the ship's landing signals officer (LSO), which could result in a landing being waved off. Therefore more communication activity is required between the pilot and LSO.

SRVL testing will advance in DT-2 [that year 2018] with landings performed in less benign conditions, higher sea states and onto nondry decks.

Source: http://www.thefifthcolumn.xyz/Forum/vie ... &pid=12728
& https://aviationweek.com/defense/britis ... capability

[quicksilver]

“By comparison, the SRVL comes with a slightly higher workload, he says. "There is more fuel management to consider and more lateral handling." (My emphasis added)

[spazsinbad]

Thank goodness the WOD is LIKELY (but who knows the WOD restrictions except from the QE SHOL from computer work) to be down the centreline or near it. CVN 9 degree angled decks give even MagiiCarpet & doodadheaven pilots some work.

F-35B SRVL INFO 30 Dec 2018 PRN pp 222.pdf (11Mb) SHOL diagram for LHA initial test work in this PDF, along with QE.

download/file.php?id=29230

ASLO (yes I know) lots of SHOL links here: viewtopic.php?f=58&t=15969&p=393220&hilit=SHOL#p393220

viewtopic.php?f=22&t=20304&p=381778&hilit=VTOL#p381778 PAGE 30 this thread:

download/file.php?id=25964

[quicksilver]

We talked about this a year or two ago — misalignment between aircraft forward motion and the longitudinal axis of the landing area at touchdown is a big deal, more so as the relative speed between the ship and the jet are higher and/or deck motion is greater. Prohibitive? Certainly not. But, Pete Wilson’s comment and the restrictive wind envelope are indicators of where they are still wrestling with how much risk they will assume in routine ops with Fleet pilots vice test guys. Risk aversion in UK aviation forces increased considerably some years ago when the laws were changed allowing litigants to hold uniformed decision-makers personally liable for damages and/or injury resulting from mishaps. You can bet they will fully explore every possible element of risk before someone signs off on wind/sea state envelopes for Fleet ops.

One can see the SRVV drift back and forth laterally in the 7 or 8 minute video that you posted a page or so back. That’s not unusual for STOVL jets as they tend to ‘weather vane’ into the wind at slower landing speeds. I would be curious to understand where the HMDS aligns the VHUD image when the aircraft ‘weather vanes‘ with gusty shifting winds.

[spazsinbad]

You make & have made good points - I guess we await outcomes (I have no STOVL experience). Meanwhile my e-mailer:

"QE - SRVL Array (not Bedford Array - hasn't been called that in years) still being fiddled with. They did some surgery on it at Portsmouth over summer. Nothing wrong with it, just ongoing work. PoW built/fitted when more was known."

[spazsinbad]

Lots of stuff to digest here with a zoom view of a WIZZER SRVL approach explained by him (some words indistinct to me).

F-35B SRVL Warton Shipborne Rolling Vertical Land Sim ZOOM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8M7RcWuZMs


__________________________________________________________

F-35B SRVL Warton Shipborne Rolling Vertical Landing Sim https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02krA7oRK9Y


__________________________________________________________

F-35B vHUD via HMDS Pilot View to QE of an SRVL Approach Clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3BfnKynP6s

[spazsinbad]

There is a little more details in this 10/2 aviation week article;
'Given that the future development testing will largely focus on further development of the SRVL capability, it is likely that round of trials will take place on the Queen Elizabeth’s sister ship, HMS Prince of Wales, says Royal Air Force Air Commo. Paul Godfrey, head of UK Carrier Enabled Power Projection (CEPP).
The second ship, which formally began sea trials on Sept. 22, will be the first of the two ships to be equipped with a fully stabilized Bedford Array, a glidepath alignment cue that uses lights that can be aligned with a ship reference velocity vector in the pilot’s helmet-mounted display and allows the pilot to fly an accurate glidepath to the deck, even in higher sea states. Helicopters have already begun performing deck landings on the Prince of Wales, and the ship is expected to be formally commissioned into Royal Navy service before year-end."

British F-35s Head For Carrier Operational Testing
02 Oct 2019 Tony Osborne | Aviation Week & Space Technology

"Lockheed Martin F-35s will soon be embarked again on Britain’s new flagship aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, only this time for operational testing.

The trials, known as Westlant 19, are again taking place off the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S. and will not only prove the sea legs of Britain’s frontline F-35 crews but pave the way for the ship’s first operational cruise, to the Far East, in May 2021.

- Operational Testing should see seven UK F-35s embarked on HMS Queen Elizabeth
- A second carrier, HMS Prince of Wales, is now on sea trials
- The UK wants an unmanned tanker to increase range and support recovery [???]

They follow the success of two rounds of development testing (DT-1/2), the first-of-class flight trials (FOCFT). Those took place this time last year and not only achieved 100% of their objectives but also covered significant ground planned for a third round of development testing now envisaged in the early 2020s (AW&ST Oct. 29-Nov. 11, 2018, p. 23).

Both DT-1 and DT-2 “overachieved,” John Slater, senior flight test engineer for F-35 flight trials at BAE Systems, told the Royal Aeronautical Society in London in September.

Two F-35Bs belonging to the Integrated Test Force were embarked on the Queen Elizabeth for the FOCFT program during September and October 2018, when they performed 203 short takeoffs using the ski jump, along with 187 vertical landings and 16 ship-rolling vertical landings (SRVL).

“If the opportunity arose [during DT-1/2] —and we had done the appropriate buildup activities, and the conditions presented themselves—we could go and meet some DT-3 objectives,” said Slater.

According to Slater, the FOCFT has already proved more than one-third of the DT-3 objectives and could meet more during a deployment.

DT-1 and DT-2 provided evidence for the release to service, an airworthiness approval for operational testing and, ultimately, initial operational capability/maritime (IOC(M)) for the UK F-35s in the maritime environment.

DT-3 will prove more advanced capabilities, including furthering the SRVL capability. It will also include operations with external stores, operating in higher sea states and confirming the use of power nozzle braking to provide additional braking action after an SRVL. DT-3 trials will also open more vertical-landing spots on the ship’s deck.

The operational trials, which should see at least seven British F-35s embarked on the 65,000-ton ship, will include aircraft from the UK’s test and evaluation unit, 17 Sqdn., normally based at Edwards AFB, California, as well as aircraft and crews from the two UK-based units: 617 Sqdn., the frontline operational unit, and 207 Sqdn., the training unit that formed in the UK in July. Up to four U.S. Marine Corps aircraft are also expected to join the ship during the deployment to support initial instructor training for operations from the ship. A Marine Corps squadron will embark on HMS Queen Elizabeth for the first operational cruise.

As part of the operational exercises, crews will perform end-to-end testing of procedures, from flight planning to weapon handling, in addition to flying the missions and dropping weapons before returning, debriefing and performing mission analysis. The testing will also prove the systems for communications and data linking among the various assets at sea.

“The current deployment will realize symbiotic integration of the F-35 within the maritime task group alongside the U.S.,” Royal Navy Rear Adm. Martin Connell, assistant chief of naval staff, said at the Defense and Security Equipment International (DSEI) show in London. “This operational test is a pivotal phase of our capability and a waypoint towards being truly operational in the next year,” he added.

Given that the future development testing will largely focus on further development of the SRVL capability, it is likely that round of trials will take place on the Queen Elizabeth’s sister ship, HMS Prince of Wales, says Royal Air Force Air Commo. Paul Godfrey, head of UK Carrier Enabled Power Projection (CEPP).

The second ship, which formally began sea trials on Sept. 22, will be the first of the two ships to be equipped with a fully stabilized Bedford Array, a glidepath alignment cue that uses lights that can be aligned with a ship reference velocity vector in the pilot’s helmet-mounted display and allows the pilot to fly an accurate glidepath to the deck, even in higher sea states.

Helicopters have already begun performing deck landings on the Prince of Wales, and the ship is expected to be formally commissioned into Royal Navy service before year-end.

Meanwhile, the UK is beginning to consider how it can further the capability of the Queen Elizabeth-class carriers using the unmanned capabilities being developed for the UK’s Future Combat Air System.

“The planned service life of 50 years will naturally require us to embrace autonomy, technological innovation and maturation of remotely piloted systems, including those from within our future combat air strategy,” said Connell.

“The intent is to affordably complement our manned strike fighters and rotary-wing assets and make them more effective and lethal,” said Royal Marines Col. Phillip Kelly, chief of staff for UK CEPP, also at DSEI.

He said the first priority for any future carrier-borne UAV will be the provision of aerial refueling—similar to the U.S. Navy’s need for the MQ-25 unmanned refueling platform—extending the range of the F-35 but also supporting the recovery to the ship.

Other capabilities foreseen are the ability to carry weapons and sensors, as well as electronic warfare systems to complement them. Other roles could be airborne early warning and even persistent sonobuoy dispensing and monitoring.

Kelly said the Defense Ministry prefers a platform with the same outer mold line to perform all three tasks and reduce the cost of ship-air integration.

One solution could be carrier-launched versions of the Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft/Mosquito being developed by industry, which aims to provide a reusable but attritable multirole platform at 1/10 the cost of a manned fighter, but also the Royal Air Force’s plans for swarming UAVs to confuse enemy air defenses (AW&ST July 29-Aug. 18, p. 18).

“Sensorising all the platforms is a laudable aim,” Kelly said, but not if it drives the cost of the platform too high. “We already have a Ferrari in the form of the F-35,” he added.

Conventional fixed-wing platforms are already more than capable of operating from a ship using a ski jump, and UAVs can be rail- or vertically launched if needed, but the Queen Elizabeth-class carriers lack arrestor gear for recovery.

Kelly called on industry to consider a high-energy recovery system, rather than parachuting UAVs into the water, while vertical recovery comes with thrust and payload penalties.

“Arrested landing on the carrier allows optimization of the aircraft for range and endurance, as does inflight capture on an escort,” he said. “We will use autonomous systems to maximize our information collection, achieve synergistic effects and increase our combat radius. We have some way to go.... We are in those developmental teenage years.”"

Source: http://www.thefifthcolumn.xyz/Forum/vie ... &pid=22152 & https://aviationweek.com/combat-aircraf ... al-testing

[steve2267]

Who is this Kelly character? Seems like a wee bit of a loon, eh?

British F-35s Head For Carrier Operational Testing
02 Oct 2019 Tony Osborne | Aviation Week & Space Technology

“The planned service life of 50 years will naturally require us to embrace autonomy, technological innovation and maturation of remotely piloted systems, including those from within our future combat air strategy,” said Connell.

Uh oh... "embrace"... my BS detector just sounded off...

“The intent is to affordably complement our manned strike fighters and rotary-wing assets and make them more effective and lethal,” said Royal Marines Col. Phillip Kelly, chief of staff for UK CEPP, also at DSEI.

It's beeping now...

He said the first priority for any future carrier-borne UAV will be the provision of aerial refueling—similar to the U.S. Navy’s need for the MQ-25 unmanned refueling platform—extending the range of the F-35 but also supporting the recovery to the ship.

Other capabilities foreseen are the ability to carry weapons and sensors, as well as electronic warfare systems to complement them. Other roles could be airborne early warning and even persistent sonobuoy dispensing and monitoring.

Kelly said the Defense Ministry prefers a platform with the same outer mold line to perform all three tasks and reduce the cost of ship-air integration.

So far, I have Kelly pining for

1. one UAV platform that can
2. dispense fuel to an F-35 (which can carry a LOT of gas)
3. carry & deploy weapons
4. carry sensors
5. drop & monitor sonobouys

Is this the same country that is reportedly having discussions, or some in government are already calling for the mothballing of one ship, or leasing it to the USN? Or further cutting their defense budget? Where are they going to find the £ to pay for this vunder-UAV?

One solution could be carrier-launched versions of the Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft/Mosquito being developed by industry, which aims to provide a reusable but attritable multirole platform at 1/10 the cost of a manned fighter, but also the Royal Air Force’s plans for swarming UAVs to confuse enemy air defenses (AW&ST July 29-Aug. 18, p. 18).

Oh, I see... it will be "Affordable." That solves all their funding problems. But they just broke the rule of threes pertaining to mystical military equipment naming conventions:

• Lightweight (BS detector just chirped... military equipment that will be "lightweight"
• Affordable (BS detector beeping... )
• Novel (BS detector blaring...)

But it's alright... they only chose two of the three... he left off schedule. At least he didn't ask for it to be developed in his lifetime.

I think this bloke has been spending too much time in The Queen's Head. That or the reporter caught him somewhat knockered as he emerged from the pub.

But again... it's alright... He'll just wave his magic wand... even after the Brits made a decision to NOT make the QE-class CATOBAR capable, and by imploring "industry to consider a high-energy recovery system" overcome the lack of arrester gear on HMS QE and POW.

He even mentions wanting to avoid parachuting UAV's into the water. Wait, what? He was even contemplating parachuting a UAV large enough to push gas (since he wanted a 3-in-1 outer mold line) into the water for recovery? Yeah, I'd say this bloke was in me pub a wee bit too long.