Page 33 - Renorming of Airpower: The F-35 Enters the Combat Fleet

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

The Williams Foundation seminar was held the day after the Jericho discussion. This was the first of the
sessions which are intended to look at applied transformation so to speak. If fifth generation is
transformative, how might it be applied to air-land and air-sea integration?

This session was focused on new approaches to air-land integration.

The terms of reference were as follows:

Air forces need to be capable of delivering air and space power effects to support conventional and special
operations in the land domain. Air-Land integration is one of the most important capabilities for successful joint
operations.

The last decade has seen a significant shift in how airpower has supported ground operations. With the
introduction of systems like Rover, the ability of airpower to provide precision strike to the ground forces saw a
significant change in fire support from a wide variety of air platforms. Precision air dropping in support of
outposts or moving forces introduced new capabilities of support.

Yet this template of air ground is really focused on air support to the ground whereas with the shift in the global
situation, a much wider set of situations are emerging whereby the air-ground integration approach will become
much wider in character, and the ability to insert force rapidly, as a precision strike capability, and to be
withdrawn will be a key tool in the toolbox for decision makers.

Fifth generation enabled operations will see a shift to a distributed C2 approach which will clearly change the
nature of the ground-to air command system, and the with the ability of fifth generation systems to generate
horizontal communications among air assets outside the boundaries of a classic AWACs directed system, the
change in C2 will be very wide ranging.

NINJA DISCUSSES HIS FLIGHT ACROSS THE ATLANTIC

On Feb. 5, 2016 , he Italian Air Force’s first F-35, AL-1 with code “32-01” and markings of the 32 Stormo
Wing landed at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, at the end of the JSF’s first ever transatlantic
flight.

The aircraft was piloted by “Ninja,”an Italian Air Force test pilot, belonging to the Reparto Sperimentale Volo
(Test Wing) from Pratica di Mare, and who had successfully completed his initial F-35 flight training at Luke
AFB in November 2015.

To put this in perspective, the pilot had only 50 flight hours of F-35 flying experience.

And the Lightning II which Ninja flew across the North Atlantic in winter had only 15 flight hours on before he
took off on his historic flight. 32-01was the first plane to came off of the Italian assembly line at Cameri Italy.

And this was done in the middle of winter, flying in and out of cloud layers over the turbulent North Atlantic
against 120-knot headwinds. It was remarkable flying.

After his 7-hour flight he sat down with reporters to discuss the flight and what he sees as the way ahead for
the F-35 program.

“We started from Cameri.

We had bad weather.

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