Page 36 - Renorming of Airpower: The F-35 Enters the Combat Fleet

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

We are building a fifth generation approach from the ground up.

Question: When you sit in the F-35 cockpit and flew across the Atlantic how did the various systems
assist you in the flight?

Answer: The great thing about the F-35 is that the human-machine interface (HMI) is so good and so built
around the pilot that you don’t have to learn how it works.

You just use it.

You can configure the screens to configure for the mission.

The aircraft is built to understand; you are building a strategy, not focusing on managing the sensors or really
focused on the flying function.

I was able to see the aircraft surrounding me through the clouds, such as keeping distance with my tankers, by
using my helmet and the Distributed Aperture System and see the C-130s below me below the clouds.

Question: Did you have any problems with your helmet?

Answer: No. I used the Gen II helmet and the Gen III has improved the helmet, but my helmet worked
flawlessly during the flight. I was able to fulfill the mission and I am here.

Question: How different is flying the Tornado compared to the F-35?

Answer: How can answer and be polite? There is no comparison. Recently, I flew the Tornado after learning to
fly the F-35. It was a real shock to go back in time.

I had to move my head and focus on the switches and sensors – you have to manage the aircraft to fly.

The F-35 is totally different.

Question: What is it like to cross the Atlantic with DAS?

Answer: It is IR so much of its functionality is used during the night not the day, although you do look through
your legs and could see buildings, intersections, and various landmarks while flying.

Question: Many more people saw Lindbourgh land at Le Bourget in 1927 than are here today.

There are four reporters here to witness your arrival, and let make no mistake about it, this is an historic
day in which an Italian flew the first F-35A with an Italian assembled aircraft, rather than the USAF
having done so.

How does that feel from an Italian point of view?

Answer: It feels great. It is a different mindset. We are working at a different level than we have done in the
past.

It must be weird from your point of view to have an Italian fly the first F-35 across the Atlantic. We are
making history. We are building it; we are flying it; we are maintaining it.

We talk about facts. I am a pilot.

We have flown all these flight hours with no problems; we are living a new reality.

Second Line of Defense

Page 35