Page 24 - Renorming of Airpower: The F-35 Enters the Combat Fleet

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

Lt. Col Chari graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy where he double majored in Astronautical
Engineering and Engineering Science while minoring in Mathematics. He was awarded a Charles Stark
Draper Laboratory Fellowship and attended graduate school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
where he developed methods for automated orbital rendezvous.

Following undergraduate pilot training at Vance AFB, OK and F-15E training at Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C.,
Lt. Col Chari served as an F-15E Evaluator Pilot and Chief of Standardization and Evaluation at Elmendorf
AFB, AK and RAF Lakenheath, United Kingdom where he gained operational experience in the Pacific and
flew combat missions in Operation IRAQI FREEDOM.

FIGURE 5 F-35 BEING TANKED OVER THE DESERT NEAR EDWARDS AFB BY AN AUSSIE KC-30A TANKER. FALL 2015.

After graduating from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, Lt. Col Chari moved to Eglin AFB where he served as
an evaluator Test Pilot, Chief of Weapons and Assistant Director of Operations.

Lt. Col Chari was the project pilot for the F-15C and E’s APG-63(v)3 and APG-82(v)1 Radar Modernization
Programs bringing cutting edge Active Electronically Scanned Array radars to the USAF and flew critical
envelope expansion and validation missions for a variety of weapons including AIM-9X, AIM-120D, GBU-28,
and JASSM.

Additionally, Lt. Col Chari oversaw a team of military, civilian and contractors in planning, executing, and
reporting on flight test missions for four different weapons systems. Lt Col Chari served in the CENTCOM Joint
Operations Center as a time sensitive targeting officer, monitoring and authorizing dynamic targeting against
high value targets and individuals.

After graduating from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Lt. Col Chari was a program
manager for an ACAT-1 Program in the Air Force’s Rapid Capabilities Office. He led a Deputy Secretary of
Defense priority program overseeing a multi-billion dollar effort and rapidly delivered a critical combat
capability. Lt. Col Chari is a senior pilot with combat experience and more than 2,000 flying hours in the F-
35A/B/C, F-15C/D/E, F-18, F-16, T-38A/C, T-37, and T-6.

Ed Timperlake’s Personal Note:

Having been present in the Pentagon for the Office of Net Assessment and also at the CIA during the late
seventies as the developer of the TASCFORM-AIR math model, I saw the “Fighter Mafia” up close.

In fact to understand what he was saying, I sat through John Boyd’s lecture twice.

Second Line of Defense

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