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During our visit to Pax, we had a chance to discuss the test approach, test results and
thinking about the way ahead with two key members of the ITF.

The first was with Tom Briggs, F-35 Pax River ITF Air Vehicle Engineering Department
Head, who has more than 25 years of naval aviation test experience and has tested air-
craft during 25 different at-sea detachments..

The second is CDR J. Ryan Murphy, the USN Director of Test and Evaluation, F-35
Naval Variants. CDR Murphy is an F/A-18 pilot with significant operational experience
— including command of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 143 — and highlights the
Navy approach for test pilots to come in and out of the operational community.

Question: From your perspective, how have you built synergy across the broader test
community?

Briggs: An under-appreciated reality is that the commonality of the aircraft allows the
USAF and USN test communities to work closely together in shaping the way we test.
Aircraft characteristics or anomalies, which the Air Force may see first at Edwards, we
can leverage and vice versa.

We do a lot of information sharing with Edwards down at the individual team level.
Our propulsion testers talk with their propulsion testers. Our weapons testers coordi-
nate with their weapons testers. Our flying qualities folks talk with their flying qualities
folks. So we understand what they have seen before we go into a similar line of testing
and we share flight reports.

If there's a problem that they see, we take a look at our data to see if we have something
similar. If we start to see a problem, we let them know so that they can take a look as
well. Together we leverage our testing and ensure the other capitalizes on what we’ve
found.

There's a lot of that sharing that goes on, which frankly, for me, on a Navy test site to
hear regularly from an Air Force test site is a little bit remarkable. Together we make

Second Line of Defense Lessons Learned at Pax River
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