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the u.s. military's various types of fighter jets have taken turns practicing taking off and landing on highways, and the value of highways as combat-ready runways has become increasingly important.

on september 6, the baana 2024 exercise, which was held on the norvatie highway in rovaniemi, finland and the hosio highway in ranua as runways, came to an end. in this exercise, the f-35a stealth fighter from the us air force took off and landed on the highway. the us air force said that this was the first time that the f-35a took off and landed on a highway in europe.

the us f-35a stealth fighter takes off and lands on the highway

from non-stealth aircraft to stealth aircraft, from manned aircraft to unmanned aircraft... in recent years, the us military has frequently tested and trained the take-off and landing capabilities of fighter jets on roads, especially highways, which has attracted the attention of the outside world.

"a cunning rabbit has three burrows" and highway takeoffs and landings

after the birth of airplanes, how to destroy the enemy's aircraft and gain air superiority has become the highlight of air combat. douhet, the father of air superiority theory, pointed out as early as the 1920s that relying on air combat to destroy enemy aircraft "is the worst way, if not completely useless". therefore, the key to gaining air superiority is to strive to destroy enemy aircraft at the airport, and air combat is not the main means of gaining air superiority. in the past 100 years, all important wars have adopted the tactics of attacking airports to gain air superiority. even in future wars, attacking airports will still be an important means of gaining air superiority.

in the era when propeller planes were the main aircraft, the relatively simple propeller planes did not have high requirements for airport hardware conditions. sometimes a relatively flat lawn could complete the takeoff and landing of the aircraft. after the birth of jet planes, the "delicate" jet engines had a lot more requirements for airport conditions, requiring special hard runways, fuel and ammunition (missiles and guided bombs are also "delicate" weapons with relatively high requirements for storage environment) also need special storage facilities. the scale of military airports began to grow, and the requirements for site selection, construction and protection were also relatively high. however, airports with fixed locations and obvious targets are also more vulnerable to attacks.

in order to deal with this situation, the usual practice is to enhance the defense capability of military airports or air bases and the ability to quickly repair runways; on the other hand, to increase spare airports or runways. only by "having three burrows" can the survivability be improved. the combat readiness value of highways has begun to be valued by the military. the characteristics and technical indicators of highways are similar to those of airport runways. during construction, only the parameters such as straight length, width, longitudinal and transverse slopes, roadbed height, and road surface strength need to be improved accordingly to meet the take-off and landing requirements of aircraft. germany is the first country in the world to build highways (the first highway line runs from bonn to cologne), and it opened its first highway in 1921. during world war ii, germany first selected some sections of highways suitable for take-off and landing as combat readiness runways for fighters, and used the dense woods on both sides of the highway to conceal fighters, personnel and supplies.

after the war, many countries attached great importance to the value of highways as war-ready runways. when designing highways, especially highways, some countries would reserve a section of highways for construction in accordance with the requirements of war-ready runways, that is, to reserve a straight and wide highway as a war-ready emergency runway for aircraft takeoff and landing. in wartime or emergency situations, highway runways can quickly transform from ordinary roads into war-ready runways, disperse the deployment of fighter jets, and effectively improve the survivability and response speed of fighter jets.

of course, the highways that can be used as combat readiness runways are not randomly selected. the surrounding terrain, obstructions, combat readiness support, airspace conditions, etc. must be investigated and studied in advance. only when they meet the requirements of military aircraft take-off and landing and combat readiness support can they be built as combat readiness runways. in addition, unlike military airports that have complete facilities such as communications, navigation, fuel, and meteorology to support aircraft take-offs, highways do not usually have such conditions. therefore, it is essential to prepare mobile workstations in advance to ensure aircraft take-off and landing, and relevant support forces must also conduct mobile drills frequently to improve the support capabilities of combat readiness runways.

since highways that serve as war-readiness runways are usually mainly used for vehicle traffic and serve the national economic construction, these sections of road generally have isolation facilities, street lights, etc. however, if needed in wartime, these highway sections that serve as war-readiness runways will need to be specially prepared to remove relevant isolation facilities, street lights, signboards, etc. (the ancillary facilities of these sections are usually designed to be mobile, which is convenient for rapid removal in wartime), and the road surface must be cleaned to prevent gravel, small metal objects, etc. on the road surface from being drawn into aircraft engines and causing flight failures or dangers.

the us military is paying more and more attention to highway takeoff and landing capabilities

modern wars are sudden and progress quickly, and airports with limited numbers and fixed locations will become the focus of attack, especially at a time when long-range precision-guided weapons are spreading. airports are easily destroyed or attacked in the early stages of a war. although runway rapid repair technology can be used for repairs, considering that the enemy may continue to attack the airport, having more combat-ready airports or runways will obviously increase redundancy. moreover, before the war, through dispersed deployment and highway takeoffs and landings, we try to avoid the situation of "putting all the eggs in one basket", so highways with aircraft takeoffs and landings are also called "invisible airports."

sweden is a country that cannot be avoided when discussing highway takeoffs and landings. the country attaches great importance to the value of highways as war-ready runways, and pays great attention to highway construction, fighter aircraft development, and even training. sweden has a well-developed highway system and good quality. it is said that nearly half of the road surface hardness is suitable for aircraft runway takeoffs and landings. in addition, sweden has built a base in a certain highway-dense area to form a network layout. some roads are used for taxiing and parking of fighters, and there are also hangars, fuel supply and other facilities. in addition, sweden has required that "fighters must be able to take off and land on highway runways" since it began to develop supersonic fighters. this is also one of its fighter design ideas. from the first generation of "saab"-35 fighters to the latest "gripen" e/f fighters, they all have excellent highway takeoff and landing capabilities, and most pilots also have the skills to take off and land on highways.

sweden attaches great importance to the ability of fighter jets to take off and land on highways. most fighter jets and pilots have this skill.

in the past, countries that valued highways as war-ready runways were mainly concentrated in small and medium-sized countries or regions, such as sweden mentioned above, as well as finland, norway and other countries. these countries valued the war-ready runway value of highways mainly because they were located at the forefront of confrontation, with relatively small territorial areas and insufficient defense depth. they needed highways as war-ready runways to enhance operational flexibility and elasticity. however, in recent years, with the shift in the us military strategy and the shift in military transformation from the war on terror to great power competition, the us military has also increasingly valued the war-ready runway value of highways. especially after the outbreak of the russia-ukraine conflict, the us military has increasingly explored and practiced the ability of aircraft to take off and land on highways (including ordinary roads and simple field landing and take-off sites).

the f-35a stealth fighter's highway takeoff and landing exercise in finland is an important attempt by the us military to explore the highway takeoff and landing of stealth fighters. compared with non-stealth fighters, stealth fighters are more "delicate". this exercise can provide the us air force with more data and experience on highway takeoff and landing of stealth fighters. in fact, the f-35a's "brother" - the f-35b has already conducted a lot of exploration in the past few years. in this joint exercise organized by the us air force and the marine corps in march, the two pilots flying the f-35b fighter collected and summarized various flight parameters, taxiing length, fuel consumption and other data that appeared during highway takeoff and landing. at the same time, a professional ground team was set up to monitor the radar response, radio frequency spectrum characteristics and noise intensity of the f-35b fighter during highway takeoff and landing.

in addition to fighter jets, the u.s. military has also expanded the types of aircraft that can take off and land on highways to large aircraft, drones and other models. last month, an ac-130j gunship of the u.s. air force special operations command successfully landed on highway 63 in arkansas, usa, quickly completed hot refueling and ammunition replenishment on the ground, and then took off and completed the aircraft's historic first highway combat readiness road takeoff and landing. this exercise also used a-10c attack aircraft, c-146 transport aircraft, etc. compared with smaller fighter jets, the ac-130j gunship developed based on the c-130 transport aircraft is more difficult to take off and land. in may last year, the u.s. air force mq-9 reconnaissance and strike drone practiced takeoff and landing on the highway for the first time. this was the first time that the u.s. military's large fixed-wing drone conducted related exercises.

u.s. air force mq-9 drone conducts first highway takeoff and landing exercise

ac-130j gunship successfully landed on the highway

unlike most countries that use highway takeoffs and landings as a defensive measure, the u.s. military is more offensive. the u.s. military believes that airports on islands in the indo-pacific region may be destroyed or suppressed in wartime, but some highways or simple takeoff and landing fields on the islands have great value. due to the large number of islands and the long distances between some islands, the u.s. military can use them to conduct extensive mobile deployments, making it difficult for opponents to predict. this is also an important reason why the u.s. military has attached great importance to the exploration and exercise of the highway takeoff and landing capabilities of fighter jets in recent years. the u.s. military is preparing for future wars, especially possible conflicts or wars between major powers.