Page 4 - Williams Foundaiton Air-Land Integration April 15

New Approaches to Air-Land Integration

The current Chief of Staff of the RAAF, Air Marshal Leo Davies, provided an overview on the RAAF’s
approach to transformation and his priority on shaping new approaches to operating with the ground
forces. It is not just about having a new fleet; it is about shaping new capabilities for the joint force, but one,
which is to be understood as multi-dimensional, and not simply about who is supporting whom in a particular
operation.

Several themes stood out from the Seminar.

The first was how significant the rethink on Army’s part really is.

The Chief of Staff clearly underscored that the land wars of the past decade are not the template for moving
forward and saw the need and opportunity to shape new ways to integrate airpower with ground maneuver
forces in providing for more effective capabilities in the contested battlespace.

The second was the reshaping of Army modernization to achieve the force envisaged by the Army Chief of
Staff.

Brigadier General Mills, the head of Army Modernization, provided a hard hitting look at the Army and how
the evolving force could shape a more distributed operational and decision making force, one which he saw
as providing for 21st century ground maneuver forces.

The third was the clear synergy between the USMC and Plan Jericho.

Lt. General Davis, Deputy Commandant of Aviation, provided a comprehensive and hard hitting presentation
on how the Marine Corps was evolving under the influence of the new technologies, the Osprey and the F-35,
and how the focus of the Corps was upon “equipping the 21st century Marine,” rather than “manning the
equipment.”

Davis highlighted that the Corps was working at the seams of air-land-sea integration, and described how he
thought the tiltrotar revolution started with the Osprey would continue. He also provided an update on how
the F-35 was fitting into the USMC’s overall approach to transformation.

He noted that the young pilots for the F-35 were already pushing the envelope on Close Air Support, and
flying the F-35 into Nellis ranges through complicated red threats and being able to come out the other side
and provide the maneuver force with various types of support, fires, ISR and C2.

The fourth was a clear response to industry to the Plan Jericho challenge to evolve differently in relationship
to the evolution of the Australian Defense Force.

The Northrop Grumman presentation provided a clear look at the evolution of C2 capabilities in line with a
transformed force; the Rockwell Collins presentation looked at how the JTAC role will change with new
technologies; the L3 presentation provided a look at how commercial technologies could be leveraged to
provide for the kind of cost effective and dynamic technological innovation which could support the
connectivity needs for the RAAF.

The co-leaders of Plan Jericho Group Captains Jake Campbell and Pete Mitchell underscored that indeed C2
transformation was emerging as a key thread for transformation in shaping a way ahead.

There were other threads to the discussion which included the evolution of training to build a 21st century
force, the evolution of the remotely piloted aircraft to work in an evolving battlespace, the challenge of
ensuring that we get the right information to the right people at the right time, the evolution of Army force

Second Line of Defense

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