F-35 requires insane support equipment to perform

How can a future enemy tell if there are land-based F-35s in their area of interest?

Big hangers.

With lots of specialized support equipment for air and electricity.

Read the full effort here. (H/T- JSF News)

The F-35 JSF is a significantly different aircraft compared to legacy fighters, such as the F-18 and F-16, it’s designed to replace:

The F-35 needs 270v DC ground power, not 400 Hz.
It also needs high-pressure cold dry air supplied to it for ground operations.

Full production of the aircraft is not expected until 2019, but hangars have been in the works for more than four years. The new hangars that support this fantastic aircraft can’t be just ordinary hangars. They need to have the latest in technology and safety built into them. What used to work for hangar design doesn’t necessarily apply anymore.

With the F-35’s multiple, complex on-board electronic systems, the PCA requirements are very difficult to provide for the F-35. Not too hot … not too cold … it has to be very dry air and at a higher pressure than normal commercial PCA requirements.

This balancing act would be hard enough with aircraft mobile units, but these modern hangars have to have underground trunk-line systems with the actual units outside the hanger.

Get your air-sickness bag (maybe two) and read the whole thing.



Yuma:

Inside the hanger: Air hose and powerline door.

HPC-F (High Pressure Air Conditioner-Fixed) units. Provide a "precise" high-pressure air source via a trunk-line system where several units are ducted into a common hard, underground pipe for the pits.

Service pits installed under the hanger.

So, much for combat sustainment over weeks vs. a real enemy.

This is a large operational overhead and operational risk.

Damage or kill the hanger and F-35 operations will be limited...or ended.

And of course, if the F-35 ever faces a real enemy, it is likely to get shot down.






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