UK F-35s and the Bedford Landing System

The video was first published on October 17, 2018.

The Royal Navy is currently testing a landing system that will allow its F-35B Joint Strike Fighters to fly farther and with greater payloads.

The shipborne rolling vertical landing will allow F-35Bs to land on the U.K.’s new carriers with larger payloads, eliminating the need to jettison expensive stores just to land on ships.

The U.K.’s newest aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, has spent the better part of a month off the U.S. East Coast practicing takeoffs and landings with F-35B fighter jets.

Queen Elizabeth and her sister ship, HMS Prince of Wales, each will embark 12 to 36 F-35Bs at a time, forming the tip of the spear of British expeditionary forces.

The 65,000 ships are the largest warships ever built in the U.K.

As for landing without the presence of arresting gear, the F35s will use a technique called shipboard rolling vertical landings.

Unlike US Marine Corps F-35Bs, which hover over the flight decks of amphibious assault ships and then descend vertically to a landing, the Royal Navy’s F-35Bs will approach the rear flight decks of the Queen Elizabeth class in a slow descent, their exhaust nozzles straight down, touching down on the flight deck and then quickly coming to a direct stop.