Page 38 - Renorming of Airpower: The F-35 Enters the Combat Fleet

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

We have to air-to-air pilots working with air-to-ground pilots and merging the cultures.

You are not focusing on your sensors; you are focusing on the end objective of your mission.

The big difference with this aircraft is situational awareness.

You see everything, and I mean on the surface and on the ground and you command attack, defense and
electronic warfare functions within the aircraft.

The HMI is processing this and allowing you to be more strategic in your role.

You have different screens and different set ups that we are using as we fly the aircraft, and over time we
can help the pilots standardize ways to usual the two screens optimally.

During my flight, I mostly used the two screens in the following way:

Half a screen provided a long-range view to look further; the second half showed the formation.

And the second screen contained my targeting Pod in one half and DAS in the other.

I hand flew because I wanted to play with the screens and figure out how to make best use of the systems
during flight.

Question: How is the F-35 a game changer for the Italian Air Force?

Answer: The F-35 gives us much greater global reach.

We have so much gas in the aircraft and it is so fuel efficient, it gives us options in the various scenarios we
are likely to face in our area of operations.

(Note: Ninja landed in Pax River on February 5, 2016)

THE MARINES AND THE ROYAL AIR FORCE ABOARD THE USS WASP

The continuous sorties of F-35Bs aboard on the USS Wasp on May 26, 2015 witnessed by visitors from the
foreign and the U.S. press was almost numbing.

There were six F-35Bs aboard the ship, 4 from the Green Knights squadron at Yuma and 2 from the
Warlords at Beaufort. We saw several sorties of F-35Bs aboard the ship conducted by pilots from both
squadrons.

The first USMC squadron is now operational and being effectively integrated with the other elements of the
Marine Air Ground Task Force while operating from Yuma USMC Air Station.

We saw aboard the ship maintainers from three squadrons, the Green Knights (Yuma), the Warlords
(Beaufort) and VMX-22 (New River), the squadron that prepared the Osprey for its IOC in 2007 and is
continuing its work with F-35B integration.

In addition to the USMC squadrons, the USN has worked hard on modifying the ship to operate the new
USMC aviation assets. The XO of the ship, Captain Andrew “Mongo” Smith, highlighted that the ability of a
25 year old ship to become part of “fifth generation enabled combat operations” and its ability to operate
the F-35 showed the flexibility of the ship and the USN-USMC team.

Second Line of Defense

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