Lightning Rods Protect F-35 Lightnings From Lightning At Exercise Northern Lightning - Lightning Rods Protect F-35.jpg ...

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...hern-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...-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.



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