Miloch wrote in
:

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...s-protect-f-35
-lightnings-from-lightning-at-exercise-northern-lightning

In what can only be described as the height of irony, personnel at
Volk Field in Wisconsin have erected lightning rods to protect F-35A
Joint Strike Fighters, also known by their official nickname Lightning
II, from, well, lightning. On top of all that, this is taking place
during a major joint exercise called Northern Lightning.

This year's iteration of Northern Lightning kicked off on Aug. 10 and
is set to run through the end of this week. The F-35As from Vermont's
158th Fighter Wing's 134th Fighter Squadron, the first Air National
Guard unit to receive the type, are not the only aircraft taking part.
Air National Guard F-16C/D Vipers, as well as F-22 Raptors and T-38
Talons from the Air Force's active component, U.S. Navy F/A-18E/F
Super Hornets, and L-139E aggressors from private contractor Draken
International, are among the main players participating in the
exercise. You can read more about Northern Lightning in this past War
Zone piece.

The stunning image of five F-35s sitting underneath three lightning
rods, seen at the top of this story and in full below, was taken on
Aug. 11 "after a day of flying training," according to the caption.
The lightning rods appear to be versions of LBA Technology, Inc's
portable PLP-38-MOB model, which the Marine Corps also purchased to
shield their F-35Bs from lightning strikes at deployed locations in
2018, which you can read about in more detail in this past War Zone
piece.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...special-lightn
ing-rods-to-shield-their-f-35s-in-japan-from-thunderstorms

The core issue that requires the use of the lightning rods at all is
the F-35's main fuel tank and the rest of the aircraft's fuel system.
Unless the interior of the tank and the associated fuel lines are kept
"inert," there is a well-established risk that residual fuel vapors,
as well as oxygen, could build up inside. If the plane is not
"inerted" properly, a lightning strike could potentially lead to a
major fire or even a catastrophic explosion. There is also a risk that
lightning strikes might cause damage to the components of the already
much-maligned Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS), which the
Air Force is in the process of phasing out, in the jets.

Unlike a metal-skinned aircraft, the F-35's composite material
structure also "does not provide inherent passive lightning
protection," the Marine Corps explained when buying its lighting rods
two years ago. "The lightning rods being requested are needed for
deploying aircraft to any expeditionary airfield in support of combat
operations or training exercises that do not support all lightning
protection requirements."

The F-35s do feature Onboard Inert Gas Generation Systems (OBIGGS)
that are designed to pump nitrogen-enriched air into the fuel system
to prevent the buildup of these other dangerous gases. However, the
reliability of this system was recently called into question after the
discovery of damage to tubes that connect the OBIGGS to the main fuel
tank earlier this year, which Bloomberg was first to report.

Lockheed Martin halted deliveries of F-35As to the Air Force for much
of June after the issue first appeared, but subsequently determined
that "it appears this anomaly is occurring in the field after aircraft
delivery," according to Defense News. The F-35 Joint Program Office
subsequently recommended that units institute a flight restriction
that prohibited A models from operating within 25 miles of lightning
or thunderstorms.

It's unclear if this has been rescinded since then or if it also
applied to the short and vertical takeoff and landing capable F-35Bs
that the U.S. Marine Corps operates or the carrier-capable F-35Cs that
the U.S. Navy flies. We do know that Marine F-35Bs are regularly seen
with the rods in place when parked in different locales.

Even when it's working properly, there have been questions in the past
about the OBIGGS overall efficacy.

“The aircraft does not maintain residual inerting after flight for the
required interval of 12 hours, which is a lightning protection
requirement,” the Office of the Director of Operational Test and
Evaluation had warned back in 2015 specifically with regards to the
F-35B variant. “If the residual inerting cannot be improved, aircraft
maintainers will be required to purge fuel tanks with external
nitrogen more frequently or alternative lightning protection
strategies (e.g., lightning-protected shelters), will have to be
adopted.”

Regardless, it's obvious from the lightning rods at Volk Field is that
"alternative lightning protection strategies" are still very much in
use to help prevent lightning from blowing up the Lightnings when
they're out on the tarmac.




Some serious 'shopping on the first photo,
unless that is a painted backdrop. It takes
hours to take an astronomical photo like that,
and a telescope that is matching the Earth's
rotation while the image of the planes can
be taken in just a second or two.