Page 59 - Renorming of Airpower: The F-35 Enters the Combat Fleet

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

With an F-35 enabled ground insertion force, a smaller force with significant lethality and flexibility could be
deployed until it is no longer needed for it is about air-enabled ground forces. A tiltrotar enabled assault
force with top cover from a 360 degree operational F-35 fleet, whether USMC, USN, USAF or allied can
allow for the kind of flexibility necessary for 21st century warfare and operational realities.

Lt. Col. Boniface, a key Osprey squadron commander, in forecasting a “tsunami of change” to come,
understood without even saying so the evolving nature of warfare, and in this case was talking about the
Osprey and the coming of the F-35B:

“I sort of think of it like a game of chess….. If you have ever played chess it sometimes take a while to
engage your opponent. We now have the ability to move a knight, bishop, or rook off of this same
chessboard and attack 180 degrees towards the rear of our enemy. We can go directly after the king. Yes,
it’s not really fair, but I like that fact.”

Our politicians and strategists need to understand the changing nature of warfare and how to engage our
assets for strategic advantage. Our adversaries are certainly not waiting around for The West to get
smarter.

THE EVOLVING STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENT: THE CASE OF THE ARCTIC

Clearly, the Arctic is a major area of interest for the major Arctic powers as well as global economic powers
like Japan and China, who are not one of the five powers with direct claims.

The gradual melting of Arctic ice is creating the beginnings of a very different strategic situation affecting the
Pacific states, Russia, the United States, Canada and Europe. The operational geography for trade,
exploitation of raw materials, and military forces is becoming altered by that most powerful of forces –
nature.

The opening of the Arctic is an event somewhat parallel to the building of the Suez or Panama Canal. The
two great canals of the 19th and early 20th centuries changed the face of the United States and of
Europe. The new significance of the northern routes could well do the same for Russia.

The impact of the Suez Canal was considerable in changing the 19th century. As one analyst of the
geography of transportation has put it: The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 “brought a new era of
European influence in Pacific Asia by reducing the journey from Asia to Europe by about 6,000
kilometers. The region became commercially accessible and colonial trade expanded as a result of increased
interactions because of a reduced friction of distance. Great Britain, the maritime power of the time,
benefited substantially from this improved access.”[i]

With regard to the Panama Canal, the East and West coasts of the United States became part of the same
country in a fundamental way. And the United States transition to becoming a global power was facilitated
by the opening of the “big ditch” as well. The Panama Canal shortens the maritime distances between them
by a factor of 13,000 kilometers.

It will take awhile for the full impact of the opening of the Arctic to be realized, but the country whose destiny
will be most altered will be Russia, an emerging maritime country. Yes you read that correctly, the great
landlocked power, will emerge as an important maritime player and with it different roles for Canada, the
United States, Asia and Europe. To get a sense of what is involved one needs to look at a map from the top
of the world down.

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