The USMC and the Royal Navy conducted hot-pit refueling exercises and took off from the HMS Prince of Wales—with the F-35B in its “Beast Mode.”
While a Royal Navy F-35B Lightning stealth fighter from the air wing of the flagship HMS Prince of Wales remains grounded in India for repairs, another F-35B landed on the carrier this week as part of a joint exercise with the US Navy. The short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) Joint Strike Fighter variant was flown by a United States Marine Corps aviator from Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 242 (VMFA-242), the “Bats,” operating from amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA-6).
The two flattops were conducting flight operations in advance of the US-Australian Exercise Talisman Sabre. HMS Prince of Wales, the flagship of Carrier Strike Group 25, is operating in the Indo-Pacific as part of the UK’s historic Operation Highmast. This is only the second time a Royal Navy carrier has been deployed to the region this century.
The Marines’ F-35B Conducted a “Hot Pit” Refueling
The USMC F-35B (No. 32) landed on the flight deck of the UK’s carrier and remained just long enough to undergo a “hot pit” refueling, after which it was sent on its way. The pilot did not even exit the cockpit!
This was likely business as usual for VMFA-242, which was previously commended for carrying out the first F-35B launches and landings from the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force’s (JMSDF’s) JS Izumo (DDH-183) nearly four years ago. The Japanese multipurpose helicopter carrier is being transformed to operate with the Lockheed Martin STOVL fighter. JS Izumo and her sister ship, JS Kaga, are the first de facto aircraft carriers operated by the Japanese military since the end of the Second World War.
Another Marine Fighter Attack Squadron, VMFA-211, the “Wake Island Avengers,” had previously carried out cross-deck operations from the USS America to the former Royal Navy flagship, HMS Queen Elizabeth, in November 2021.
Hot-pit refueling exercises are conducted to reduce the time it takes for an aircraft to return to the air after landing. As the name implies, the aircraft’s engines are not shut down and cooled, but kept running. This operation can potentially be dangerous—recklessly refueling a running jet engine could accidentally lead to tragedy—but it is nonetheless an essential operation that would certainly be performed in combat conditions. Accordingly, hot-pit refueling operations require extreme care and coordination, as well as strict adherence to safety procedures.
While the origin of the term “cross-deck” or “cross-decking” remains obscure, it has historically referred to ships moored closely side by side at a dock or an anchor, where it was possible to go “across the decks” from one ship to another via a gangplank. In recent years, the term has come to refer to the ad-hoc sharing of resources between naval vessels, notably the use of carrier decks or vessel-borne helipads to host aircraft of foreign allies.
The HMS Prince of Wales Is Used to Operating with the F-35
This recent hot pit exercise was also the second time during the current Operation Highmast deployment that a foreign F-35B operated with HMS Prince of Wales.
Just weeks after CSG25 began its expected eight-month journey to the Far East and back, the Royal Navy’s conventionally-powered carrier took part in the NATO Exercise Mediterranean Strike. During that time, an Italian Navy F-35B from the carrier ITS Cavour also integrated with the British warship.
In October 2023, the Royal Navy and USMC also conducted the first aerial sortie from HMS Prince of Wales with the F-35B in its “Beast Mode,” where a pair of the fighters sacrificed their stealth capabilities to carry a massive 22,000 pounds of ordnance each.
That was equivalent to the heaviest bomb carried by a World War II-era Avro Lancaster heavy bomber — the Grand Slam, also known as the “Earthquake” bomb. It also nearly triples the bomb load of the UK’s last carrier-based strike aircraft, the Harrier GR9.
It’s unclear whether the Royal Navy has any plans to deploy its F-35Bs similarly during the current Indo-Pacific deployment. Still, it has already been a historic trip, and it is not even halfway through!
About the Author: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu has contributed over 3,200 published pieces to more than four dozen magazines and websites over a thirty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. He is based in Michigan. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected].
Image: Wikimedia Commons.
