Page 51 - Renorming of Airpower: The F-35 Enters the Combat Fleet

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

I would argue that day one in any of our military courses, you start to get the students to understand they’re
part of a larger system. The critical learning point is that it is not just the platform; it’s the total system that
matters.”

A similar perspective is emerging for the Royal Air Force as well.

In an interview with Group Captain Ian Townsend, a key officer involved in working the F-35 introduction into
service for the RAF, the importance of the global enterprise was highlighted as well.

Question: You are working the task of bringing the F-35B to the UK in 2018 and preparing for its
integration with the Queen Elizabeth. What role does your engagement with the Marines at Beaufort play
in this process?

Group Captain Townsend: “We have a pooling implementation agreement or PIA with the Marines.

The PIA formalizes how we’re going to work alongside them. We currently have 14 maintainers at MCAS
Beaufort but, by the end of 2018, we’ll have about 242 maintainers.

They are all operating under the U.S. Marine Corps regulations and will be ready to come back to the U.K.
and operate F-35 independently in late 2018.”

Question: And concurrently, you are building your own infrastructure in the UK to then support your F-
35s in the UK?

Group Captain Townsend: “That is correct. It is a massive effort to put in place the UK infrastructure but we
are learning significant lessons from other F35 partner nations.

We are conducting developmental test flying, operational test flying and frontline flying all at the same time,
something we call concurrency. We’ve never done that before. If we hadn’t taken that approach, none of the
F-35 operators would be where we are right now.

The Marine Corps wouldn’t be IOC, if they haven’t taken that approach.

And we certainly wouldn’t be thinking about IOC in 2018 if we hadn’t taken that concurrency approach.

Working alongside the Marines not only allows exposure to F35 operations through the maintenance
department, but our pilots are also working alongside their Marines equivalents. We’re training to the 501
Operational Conversion Syllabus, so we will now know exactly what the Marines are trained to go and do,
which I think will make us better partners in the future as well.”

Question: And by then, the Queen Elizabeth will be doing sea trials and getting ready to accept you?

Group Captain Townsend: “That is the target. The first period of developmental testing onboard the Queen
Elizabeth happens at the end of 2018. We have a second period in the mid-part of 2019, and then we will
conduct continuation training on the ship before she achieves operational capability at the end of 2020.”

Question: One misunderstanding often is that the Royal Navy is seen to be flying the F-35B where it is
really the RAF. And the RAF is flying both the upgraded Typhoon and F-35B and working through their
integration.

How would you describe the importance of the RAF working both processes concurrently?

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