Page 22 - Renorming of Airpower: The F-35 Enters the Combat Fleet

The Renorming of Airpower: The F-35 Arrives into the Combat Force

Question: When did you come to the command?

Answer: About nine months ago. I came from the Rapid Capability Office where we focused on an
accelerated acquisitions process for urgent operational needs.

Question: What were your expectations when you came to the command about the program?

Answer: I knew very little about the F-35 programmatics when I was informed I was going to take command.
With all the negative press out there, my first task was to get ground truth on the program.

When I went to Eglin to learn to fly the plane, I saw a lot of F-35s on the tarmac, and that was a key ground
truth - the program is way beyond getting out the gate.

Indeed, when I got here [to Edwards], we were on the cusp of IOC for the USMC F-35; that was a launch
point for me as well. The ship has sailed on the F-35 program. We have this awesome airplane, now how do
we get the best out of it? That is my task.

Ground truth and some press reporting seem a bit out of whack with one another.

And really it feels like what NASA must have been like in 1969; it is a once in a generation thing to get IOC
on a nest generation aircraft, and the excitement around here is palpable. You are going to talk about this
experience for the rest of your life, being present at the creation and evolution of F-35 combat capability.

Question: We discussed the so-called F-16 and F-35 dogfight with colleagues earlier today, what is your
take on this amazingly blown out of context story?

Answer: My first week here that story came out. I found the whole thing amazing because it did not even
involve a simulated combat sortie. We were going after some particular test points. The F-16 was simply a
test aid, not in a dogfight with the F-35.

The story was simply spun and used by those who like to spin stories.

Because this happened just after I got here, I reached back to the leadership to determine whether this would
have a chilling effect on our pilot reporting and discussions and was given clear guidance that we were not
testing in response to the press, we were testing to evolve the aircraft. That was made very clear from the
top down. We are looking for accurate test and evolution of the aircraft, not a managed press campaign.
Somebody else’s distortions are not going to deter our discussions.

And really, discussing the F-16 with the F-35 would be like a horse cavalry officer discussing the tank during
the First World War. You know the tank can not jump across the trench like a horse does! That is correct and
absolutely irrelevant.

The USAF Chief of Staff has us focused on the target of dominance in 2035 and not just carrying the legacy
approach and fleet forward. The F-35 is a big part of that forward thinking.

Question: Where are you with regard to USAF IOC?

Answer: We finished IOC testing on the USAF IOC software as of last Fall. We have been working on the
next block or cluster of capabilities for the aircraft. Recently, the program with inputs from us and OT,
decided to go back to the AF IOC software to look at an anomaly in the missions systems to enhance the
stability of those systems interacting with one another. It is really about improving , but with the overall
approach of still pushing the Full Operational Capability (FOC) software in the next block as far as we can

Second Line of Defense

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