Бесстартовый взлёт: История и испытания ракетных ускорителей для боевых самолётов.

Method of launching military aircraft

The zero length launch system or zero length take off system (ZLL, ZLTO, ZEL, ZELL) was a method whereby jet fighters and attack aircraft could be near vertically launched using rocket motors to rapidly gain speed and altitude. Such rocket boosters were limited to a short burn duration, being typically solid fuel and suitable for only a single use, being intended to drop away once expended. The majority of ZELL experiments, which including the conversion of several front line combat aircraft for trialling the system, occurred during the 1950s amid the formative years of the Cold War. As envisioned, the operational use of ZELL would have employed mobile launch platforms to disperse and hide aircraft, reducing their vulnerability in comparison to being centralised around established airbases with well known locations. While flight testing had proved such systems to be feasible for combat aircraft, no ZELL configured aircraft were ever used operationally. The emergence of ever capable missiles had greatly reduced the strategic necessity of aircraft for the nuclear strike mission, while questions over practicality had also played a role.

During the second world war, Germany experimented with the Bachem Ba 349, but due to them losing the war, development was cut short. According to aviation author Tony Moore, the concept of the zero length launch system became popular amongst military planners and strategists during the early years of what is now known the Cold War. The primary advantage of a zero length launch system is the elimination of the historic dependence on vulnerable airfields to facilitate air operations. The Soviets' main interest in ZELL was for point defense format protection of airfields and critical targets using MiG 19s. The American tests with the F 84s started with using the Martin MGM 1 Matador solid fuel boost motor of some 240 kilonewton (52,000 lbf) thrust output, which burned out seconds after ignition and dropped away from the manned fighter a second or two later. Tests of the larger F 100 Super Sabre and SM 30 (MiG 19) (with the SM 30 using the Soviet design PRD 22R booster unit) used similar short burn solid fueled boost motors, albeit of a much more powerful 600 kN (135,000 lbf) thrust class output levels. Testing proved that the F 100 was capable of a ZELL launch even while carrying both an external fuel tank and a single nuclear weapon mounted on its hard points. Once all fuel had been exhausted, the rocket motor was intended to slip backwards from its attachment points and drop away from the aircraft. However, testing revealed that this would sometimes fail to detach or cause minor damage to the aircraft's underside when doing so. Despite such difficulties being encountered, the F 100's ZELL system was considered to be feasible, but the idea of its deployment had become less attractive as time went on. Eventually, all projects involving ZELL aircraft were abandoned, largely due to logistical concerns, as well as the increasing efficiency of guided missiles having rendered the adoption of such aircraft to be less critical in the eyes of strategic planners.

The ZELMAL program investigated the possibility of a zero length landing. The program was conducted 1953 and 1954. It involved a Republic F 84 aircraft and an inflatable rubber mat. The aircraft would perform a zero length landing by catching an arrester cable with a tailhook, similar to an aircraft carrier landing. The aircraft would then drop onto the rubber mat. A number of unmanned tests were performed before two piloted ZELMAL tests in 1954. In both cases the pilots suffered spinal injuries. The program was not continued after that.