Perhaps I can help a little here on F-35B exhaust effects. (I've posted this stuff a few times before, but it's clearly an issue that generates a lot of interest. Please forgive the repetition.)
On requirements issues as raised by LO and others,the JSF Joint Operations Requirements Document (JORD) had a set of high level statements on F-35B/C ship suitability and basing. The basic format was:
'The F-35(B or C) shall be compatible with and operationally supportable from (LHD or CVN) class ships as described in annex 'X''.
The JORD contained detailed Annexes on the ship designs, as well as the surfaces it was required to work from. From a basing perspective, the requirements were, as far as we were concerned at the time, pretty comprehensive. Certainly good enough to form the basis for building the far more detailed design requirements.
Everybody knew that the F-35B was going to pose a bigger challenge for flight deck and runway surfaces. Basic physics told us that. So the program knew that understanding and quantifying the external environment (noise, velocity, pressure, temperature) generated by the aircraft was essential. That's why the program carried out the most detailed set of tests and trials ever conducted for a powered lift aircraft. Three separate test programmes looked at how the hot gases flowed around the airframe, their effect on the airframe itself, and also the effect of the hot exhaust on a range of surfaces, including Mil Spec concrete asphalt, AM-2 matting and flight deck coatings. The results from these were immediately passed to Navair and other agencies to inform ship integration trials. A was certainly talking to B, at least from where I stood.
The results showed that deck coating erosion was manageable but significant. The arrival of the 'Thermion' coating was very timely, and it was added to the surfaces tested. The reason it performs well ( as I understand it) is the fact that it forms an exceptionally close bond with the surface it is applied to. The coating's material also has a coefficient of expansion closer to deck steel than normal paints.
These mean that it's less likely to crack and spall off. Again, I stress that this was subjected to literally hundreds of hours of testing.
I understand that there have been some issues with deck buckling - we experienced plenty of those with Sea Harriers on UK ships. The USN solution appears to be similar - addition of extra stiffening beams under the deck to support the deck plates. Not unexpected.
It's probably important to realise that integrating any new aircraft with an existing ship will require some level of modification. The integration challenge is harder for a ship than for a land base, mainly because space is constrained. Stuff like electronic antennae, weapons, people, ground equipment etc., is always going to be closer to an operating aircraft on board than ashore. Space for support facilities is also much harder to come by.
The customer understood that, and also expected to have to make ship modifications. However, the JORD also included very tight requirements for F-35B logistics footprint, to reduce the impact as far as possible.
Yes, the USN have carried out ship modifications for F-35B. But these were planned in with existing ships programmes, as far as I know.
To answer LO's point about STOL strips - yes, the JORD specified some surfaces. However, the USMC intention was always to expand the ability of the B to operate from as man types of surface as possible. As far as I know, STOL operations to concrete and asphalt do not pose any major exhaust/surface issues, as long as direct hot exhaust impingement (I.e. 90 degrees) is avoided.
I do have to admit to being ever so slightly miffed when some posters seem to assume that the people actually doing the work on the F-35 programme must have made 'serious omissions' or that 'A wasn't talking to B'.
What's happening is that a seriously talented and hard working international team are doing their damnedest to deliver a major step forward in combat capability. And have been doing so from the start. They are not numpties. This powered lift stuff is seriously hard. They know what they are doing. A little respect might, once in a while, be offered.
That said, this is a free forum, opinions can ( and should) be thrown out there. I hope that this post helps inform those opinions.
Best regards as ever to those working the sums and shaping the metal,
Engines