6666 // // JULY 2018 #364JULY 2018 #364 http://www.airforcesmonthly.comwww.airforcesmonthly.comlot of this type of work before – there’s enough
read-across between the US Marine Corps
carriers and the Queen Elizabeth – so we know
how the jet operates around the ship and we
are comfortable with the modelling and that
events will go as the simulator shows us.
“There are multiple levels of flight control
augmentation through the systems automation
that we have in the F-35. The pilot essentially
invokes the level of augmentation they want.
So, there’s a fairly large matrix of test points
for each event. Usually going to a ship for
the first time you’d expect to start out with
minimum levels of augmentation. The aircraft
cannot ‘hook up’ to the Queen Elizabeth at
this point – the F-35 has the capability but
the ship doesn’t yet have JPALS [the GPS-
based Joint Precision Approach and Landing
System]. However, some systems on the
aeroplane can interpret data from the carrier,
such as determining its speed. JPALS
is ultimately designed to give
the F-35 auto-land capability;
the pilot will simply press a
button and the aircraft lands.“We will fly down the deck centreline for
SRVL, and our modelling for this work is very
good, but we know we are going to learn
some things when we actually get to the ship.
The main challenge is physically stopping
on the flight deck in a safe fashion. It’s all
about the flying qualities, the friction on the
deck, the visual landing aids and how the
helmet-mounted display [HMD] performs.”
Previously known as the Bedford Array,
the SRVL Array is a set of visual aids
on the deck that the pilot must line up
with the HMD symbology. Wilson said
that aligning the two is “tricky”.
While proving out the SRVL modelling isn’t
a focus of the initial embarkation, Wilson said
there may be a chance for an early ‘look’ at
this if the conditions are right. “If we had really
good weather and our primary VL envelope
expansion testing is on track we might pick
up some SRVL work. However, getting a VL
envelope for operational testing is the main
aim – they don’t need SRVL initially.”
In addition, the carrier’s ski jump will
feature on every launch. Wilson explainedthat the F-35 suits the ski jump well: “It’s a
very straightforward manoeuvre for the pilot.”
Peters added a little more detail: “We’ll start off
in the heart of the flight envelope for the aircraft
and the ship, with fairly nominal winds down
the deck and steady ship motion. But, by the
time we’ve completed the third phase of testing
in 2019 we will have flown in up to sea state
6 with 50kts of wind over the deck, with big
crosswinds and the ship pitching and rolling.”
The first embarkation, planned for
September, is designed to provide sufficient
clearances to enable the declaration of UK
IOC. The second phase will give ‘initial fleet
clearances’, while the third should pave
the way for ‘full capability’. “We’ve been
working on this for years,” Peters summed
up. “Our simulator at Warton has full ship
integration and it’s played a large part in
the pilot and LSO [landing signals officer]
training and the core prediction activity.
“The QEC and UK weapons work is our focus
to build on that baseline SDD. For the UK now
it’s all about the new UK maritime capability
and expanding our combat capability.”An F-35B test fi res the 25mm gun pod near NAS
Patuxent River. Lockheed Martin/Andy Wolfe
Peter Wilson pilots F-35B
BF-04 from the ski jump
at NAS Patuxent River on
June 19, 2015. Lockheed
Martin/Andy WolfeRAF 100
AFM