China & Russia Do Not Have an F-35B-like 5th-Gen Vertical Take-Off Stealth Ocean Attack

by Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

(Washington DC) 

Launching 5th-generation aircraft from amphibious assault ships is a unique and potentially unparalleled attribute associated with the US Marine Corps and Navy, as many rival nations do not appear to operate any kind of impactful vertical take-off and landing 5th-gen stealth aircraft similar to the F-35B. 

The F-35B, the first variant to be deployed, can reach places and conduct attack missions otherwise inaccessible to land or even carrier-launched aircraft. Such an ability would likely prove critical in any kind of amphibious warfare attack against enemy coastal areas, island chains or other land-sea multi-domain combat environments.  The USS America, a first-in-class amphibious assault ship, has deployed with as many as 15 F-35Bs board to launch stealthy air attacks or provide increasingly critical air support for island-hoping kinds of maritime combat endeavors. 

The existence of the F-35B and the absence of a rival equivalent means that the US Navy and Marine Corps would likely operate at a key advantage in any kind of amphibious engagement or maritime warfare scenario with a great power rival. An amphibious approach, for example, would be well-positioned should it be able to operate with air superiority during any kind of air-ground-sea multi-domain maritime warfare environment. 

As the first F-35 variant to deploy, the Vertical take-off-and-landing F-35B Joint Strike Fighter has been operational on US Navy amphibious assault ships for many years now, introducing an unmatched ability to launch 5th-generation air attack from smaller ships without a full carrier-runway such as America-class amphibious assault ships.

Although it flies alongside the F-35C and F-35A aircraft, the F-35 is arguably the most complex as it involves special engineering to achieve new levels of vertical hover and take off.

During construction of an F-35B, a visible “LiftFan” is engineered into a forward part of the center fuselage just behind the pilot to enable massive downward vertical thrust. Horsepower is sent to the LiftFan from the main engine through a “spiral bi-level gear system,” Rolls Royce information states.