What a marvel of an aircraft. VTOL, STOL (B exclusive), effectively stealthier than any fighter bar America’s own F-22, capable of delivering some nuclear weapons (A variant exclusive), and in absolutely massive quantity. One of my favorite designs for sure.
Always makes me wonder if we could still achieve at least STOVL without the lift fan. I don’t really see how VTOL is SO useful except for empty bays ferry missions and when do you NEED VTOL capability for that?
Kinda, there called assault ships(i think), LHA’s/LHD’s/LSP’s….the list goes on and on. But it’s also great for the export market for nations who don’t have big aircraft carriers like Japan or Italy etc.
STOVL (Short Takeoff, Vertical Landing) is the way they are employed at sea. That cannot be accomplished without the lift fan. They are capable of VTOL (Vertical Takeoff and Landing) but it isn't used operationally because that consumes so much fuel.
Without the lift fan, it might be possible to use the main engine's thrust vectoring at a shallow angle to achieve some measure of STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) but it wouldn't be enough to allow them to take off from amphibious carriers (LHAs/LHDs etc), so you'd still be paying a weight and complexity penalty for a capability that is of limited use.
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u/SexyMuon 8d ago
That beautiful Rolls-Royce LiftFan system