The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has experimented with a new, rapidly laid temporary airfield surface, which should make it easier to conduct expeditionary aircraft operations, something that is of increasing relevance across the Indo-Pacific region. The trial, which used a temporary surface known as Dura-Base, involved an RAAF F-35A stealth fighter at RAAF Base Tindal, a remote installation south of Darwin, in Australia’s Northern Territory.
Dura-Base comprises heavy-duty mats that can be locked together, providing a continuous stable surface. The F-35A involved was from the RAAF’s 75 Squadron, resident at Tindal, and one of three frontline RAAF squadrons now flying the jet, along with an operational training unit. Australia has 72 F-35As on order.
While the RAAF confirms that Dura-Base can be used for the rapid construction of taxiways, aprons, and other hardstands, even in remote areas, a conventional runway is still required for the actual takeoff and landing, with published photos showing the F-35A using the Dura-Base strip as a taxiway to access an existing runway.
The trial at Tindal was conducted by a team from 65 Air Base Recovery Squadron and was coordinated by RAAF Headquarters’ Air Capability Enablers Branch. Embedded in the team at Tindal were personnel from U.S. Air Force air base recovery and engineering squadrons.
“A 2,000-square-meter [21,500-square-foot] apron was built in a matter of days and then successfully tested by a 75 Squadron F-35,” explained Flying Officer Georgia Foristal, the construction lead for the trial at Tindal. “This was the first known use of Dura-Base for a fifth-generation aircraft.”
It is worth noting that RAAF Base Tindal has also been selected for upgrade work, funded by the U.S. government, which will include an expanded apron with space for six B-52 bombers, squadron operations facilities, and maintenance infrastructure. Once completed, the air base will have more capabilities to host bomber detachments, as well as tankers and fighters, with work also addressing fuel and munitions storage and mission planning buildings. You can read more about the plans for the base here, as well as its possible involvement in recent U.S. airstrikes on Yemen, here.
The type of matting used in Dura-Base is already used by the oil-drilling industry, specifically when a temporary load-bearing work platform needs to be set up on low-strength soils. That same technology has now been proven capable of supporting military aircraft.
“Because of its performance, Dura-Base was an ideal product to trial as a rapid aircraft taxiway and apron expansion capability for temporary operations in areas normally difficult for expedient pavement construction due to remoteness,” Squadron Leader Sean Jamieson, of the Air Capability Enablers Branch, explained.
As well as the recent trial with the F-35A, it has previously been demonstrated that Dura-Base can handle the much larger and heavier C-17A airlifter. This experiment was carried out by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers back in 2007. Other trials have involved a U.S. Air Force KC-135 aerial refueling aircraft.
On the one hand, the RAAF sees Dura-Base as a potential repair solution, something that would help keep a traditional air base operating even if it were to sustain damage during a conflict. This is of particular relevance in the north of Australia, which is an area of increasing strategic importance amid growing tensions with the Chinese military in the wider region.
Jamieson described Dura-Base as “a very promising ADR [airfield damage repair] capability for Australia that will be used in a number of future applications.”
FLGOFF Michael Thomas
Meanwhile, outside of established airfields, Dura-Base is being eyed as a means of helping generate airpower even in areas that don’t have such well-established air bases or ones that are not properly equipped to support sustained military aircraft operations.
These could include temporary airstrips set up in northern Australia, as alternatives to established air base infrastructure.
Beyond Australia’s own borders, Dura-Base would have clear utility for the kinds of agile operations that are increasingly seen as critical to supporting airpower in the Indo-Pacific region during any major contingency, especially during a future conflict involving China.
In this respect, it’s also notable that the U.S. military was involved in the experiment at Tindal since it’s also evaluating new ways of ensuring that its aircraft can effectively operate in expeditionary-type campaigns, including in more contested environments.
“Working with the USAF members was a very positive experience and further enhanced interoperability between the RAAF and PACAF [Pacific Air Forces] regarding airfield damage repair capability,” Foristal noted.
There already exist similar types of temporary runway surfaces, most notably the AM-2 matting that has been in use for decades, including by the RAAF, as well as by the U.S. Marine Corps, to create ad-hoc airstrips in the jungles of Vietnam.
However, Dura-Base offers advantages over this, according to Jamieson, at least for taxiways and aprons.
“Although AM-2 matting has been successfully used since the 1960s, Dura-Base was demonstrated to be faster and easier to install,” he said. In particular, the new type of matting needs very little in the way of surface preparation before being laid.
While AM-2 consists of aluminum planks, Dura-Base is much easier to handle, primarily being made of high-density polyethylene (HDPE), which also helps minimize the impact on the ground. According to JWA Oilfield Supplies, which provides Dura-Base to the oil industry in Australia, it’s possible to lay 400 linear meters (1,300 feet) of the matting in a single day.
Using an RAAF F-35A to prove the Dura-Base concept is interesting as this is an aircraft that usually requires some highly specialist infrastructure and maintenance demands.
It also reflects the U.S. Air Force’s efforts to introduce the stealth fighter to austere airfield operations in the Indo-Pacific. Back in 2021, TWZ reported on an exercise on the island of Guam where F-35As were joined by F-16s operating from an austere airstrip at the northwest end of the island.
This exercise was part of the U.S. Air Force’s continuing efforts toward developing its Agile Combat Employment (ACE) initiative. This seeks to provide dispersed operating locations that can be accessed by U.S. Air Force combat aircraft during a crisis. The strategy is largely a result of the growing threat posed by Chinese missile and air attacks in the Pacific theater. Central to this is also moving aircraft rapidly — and unpredictably — between locations to stay outside of the enemy’s targeting cycle.
Today, the RAAF, U.S. Air Force, and other allied air forces that operate in the Pacific region are faced with the likelihood that a major conflict with China would see established bases damaged, if not wiped out, by ballistic missiles — or by other means.
With relatively few major air bases in the region, facilities like RAAF Base Tindal and Andersen Air Force Base on Guam would be among China’s highest-priority targets, were it to go to war with either of these countries.
This reality has pushed the U.S. military to look for alternative options, including the forward bases at Wake Island and Tinian Island. Australia, too, is looking at ways to ensure airpower can be generated, even if access to major air bases is denied or reduced.
It can be imagined that an existing runway, or even a highway strip, from which F-35s also now operate, including with the U.S. Marine Corps, could, with the addition of Dura-Base, rapidly add taxiways, aprons, and aircraft servicing areas, transforming an austere airstrip into a much more functional installation, even if only temporarily.
Overall, the growing importance of the Joint Strike Fighter within allied air forces means the stealth jet is increasingly involved in testing such concepts.
As well as the recent experiment at Tindal and the U.S. Air Force’s exercise at Guam’s Northwest Field, the U.S. Marine Corps is also increasingly focused on austere operations for both its short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) F-35Bs and its F-35C carrier-capable variants. Marine F-35Cs have been put through their paces for Pacific-style expeditionary operations during maneuvers at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in 29 Palms, which you can read about here.
Furthermore, there has been a recent suggestion that the ship-based Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System and Advanced Arresting Gear, known as EMALS and AAG, respectively, could be adapted for use on land. This would have clear implications for the kinds of expeditionary campaigns that would be fought in the Indo-Pacific theater, without access to large traditional runways.
While there are various options for pursuing austere aircraft operations in the Indo-Pacific, they primarily focus on aircraft deployments that are more agile and less predictable, involving small packages of aircraft flying from remote locations, and potentially moving on again quickly. These kinds of operations also have relevance elsewhere in the world, most notably in Europe, where Russia can hold established NATO air bases under threat of missile attack.
While it remains to be seen whether the RAAF — or perhaps even the U.S. Air Force — begins to use Dura-Base on a more regular basis, the recent trial at RAAF Base Tindal further underscores air commanders’ growing aspirations to make airpower more survivable and flexible.
Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com