The article references the F-35A which is a conventional take off and landing aircraft (CTOL). The F-35B is the short take off and vertical landing (STOVL) variant. The F-35B belongs to the marines is capable of using extremely short and improvised runways and this has been part of its operational concept for quite a while[1]. For an expeditionary force that kind of thing is important.

The F-35A is a bit different in that its a normal air force fighter. This is just proving that if push comes to shove it can be operated out of improvised bases.

[1]https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/f-35b-just-touched-dow...

The article references the F-35A which is the conventional take-off/landing variant whereas the VTOL variant is the F-35B.

The F-35A variant doesn't do VTOL.

VTOL takeoff usually reduces payload vs a more normal takeoff.