Page 58 - Renorming of Airpower: The F-35 Enters the Combat Fleet

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

The Norwegians, the Dutch, and possibly the Danes and the Finns will all have F-35s and a completely
integrated force which can rapidly be inserted without waiting for slower paced forces has to be taken
seriously by Russia. There is no time gap within which the Russians can wedge their forces, for Norway and
Denmark are not likely to stand by and watch the Russians do what they want in the Baltics. With the
integrated F-35 fleet, they would need to wait on slower paced NATO deliberations to deploy significant
force useable immediately in Baltic defenses.

The third is the coming UK carrier, which can provide a local core intervention capability to plug into the F-35
forces in the region and to add amphibious assault capability.

The fourth is that the USN-USMC team coming with F-35B and Osprey enabled assault forces can plug in
rapidly as well.

The fifth is the evolving integration of air and naval systems. The long reach of Aegis enabled by F-35/Aegis
integration can add a significant offensive/defensive capability to any reinforcement force, and the
Norwegians are a local force that will have such a capability.

By leveraging current capabilities and reshaping the template for Baltic defense, the coming modernization
efforts will only enhance the viability of the template and significantly enhance credible deterrence, rather
than doing what RT referred to scornfully as “US troops drills in Baltic states is more a political than military
show.”

A key advantage of the approach is that it is led by the Nordics and gets away from the Russian game of
making this always about the US and the “US-led” Alliance.

Putin and his ilk can play this game, but European led capabilities are crucial to reshaping Russian
expectations about how non-Americans view their aggression as well.

Another example might have been how an F-35 enabled allied force could have been part of dealing with
the Malyasian airliner crisis in Ukraine.

How might have the US and allies have responded to assist the Ukrainian government and to stop the Russians
from playing a deadly game by involving themselves in shooting down a civilian airliner over Ukrainian
territory?

The multi-mission capabilities of the aircraft means that a small footprint can bring diversified lethality to the
fight. An F-35 squadron can carry inherent within it an electronic attack force, a missile defense tracking
capability, a mapping capability for the ground forces, ISR and C2 capabilities for the deployed force and
do so in a compact deployment package.

In addition, an F-35 fleet can empower Air Defense Artillery (ADA), whether Aegis afloat or Patriots and
THAAD Batteries, the concept of establishing air dominance is moving in a synergistic direction. An F-35 EW
capability along with it’s AA and AG capability will introduce innovate tactics in the SEAD mission.
Concurrently, the F-35 will empower U.S. and Allied ADA situational awareness. The current engagement of
the IDF employment of their Irion Dome in conjunction with aviation attacks is a demonstration of this type of
emerging partnership being forged in battle.

To get a similar capability today into the Area of Interest would require a diversified and complex aerial
fleet, whose very size would create a political statement, which one might really not want to make.

Second Line of Defense

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