This is good news:
The U.S. Navy recently conducted more extensive tests of operating F-35B vertical take-off and landing aircraft from amphibious ships that normally operate helicopters from their flight decks. This test included the navy’s first (of at least three) 45,000 ton LHA amphibious ships. These are the largest amphibs the navy has ever built and can handle up to twenty F-35Bs. For this test the LHA-6 America had 13 F-35Bs on board. Currently the marines only have 70 of the 340 F-35Bs they will eventually get so obtaining 20 of them for a test was not possible. The two week test at sea was mainly to determine if the LHA and F-35Bs could operate together as a unique type of light aircraft carrier. Operating this intensively from a smaller carrier was something new for the pilots, maintainers and 1,050 crew of the ship.
Everything worked although, as expected, the exercise produced a list of proposed changes and additions to the LHA’s equipment. This was mostly about electronics and communications capabilities. In some ways the individual F-35Bs have better comm gear than the LHA. The two week exercise did prove that you can operate a large number of F-35Bs from the LHA and carry out a lot of sorties.
It is important to remember that even though the test was a success, the ships are not aircraft carriers. We simply couldn't build the same capabilities using smaller hulls with the same amount of money. Size matters.
But the F-35B and precision weapons do make these ships a good supplement to the big ships (or substitute in case of losses of the big ships) for providing sea-based aviation. As I've written about for quite a long time. Although the fighter complement is not as large as envisioned back then.
