Page 70 - Renorming of Airpower: The F-35 Enters the Combat Fleet

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

• The capabilities of fifth generation aircraft reduce the amount of time necessary to do the OO of the
OODA loop with a focus on the decision making part of the loop and a general restructuring of how
decisions can be taken from the edge of the battlespace.

• A key focus is upon working new ways to distribute information throughout the battlespace.
• It is about parsing of information as well.
• To focus simply on distribution of information will always be subject the limitations of the platform

operating in the battlespace and the key opportunity driven by fifth generation is the enhanced
lethality and survivability of other combat assets.
• The F-35 is not a replacement aircraft, and that the U.S. Navy’s discussion of 6th generation is not
really about a platform but a decade or more of fifth generation warfare learning and a
determination of what comes next, less in terms of a generational aircraft iteration and much more in
terms of what can and needs to be added to the blue side combat capability going forward.
• The shift from COIN to higher tempo warfare is a key shift. And the usual argument about the
spectrum of warfare misses the point that it is about enhanced decision making in a more rapid
operational environment regardless of the spectrum on which you are fighting.
• The shift in training is crucial:
• “We tend to be conservative in our TTPs and are still captured by the replacement platform
mentality. We do not want to do TTPs for the F-35B informed by the Harrier; we do not want to do
TTPs for the F-35C informed largely by Super Hornet thinking. We need a paradigm shift in the war
fighting culture with regard to the F-35."
• The F-35 is both informing and informed by this shift towards warfighting in the extended
battlespace.
• The reach not range approach is a central part of F-35 enabled operations.
• The intersection of the coming of the F-35 with the overall evolution of new technologies and concepts
of operation is the role of the sea base.
• A key dynamic going forward will be upon the interaction of the systems operating within that
extended battlespace with the software evolution of the F-35 combat systems.

APPENDIX: THE EMERGENCE OF THE Z AXIS

The F-35 is often simply referred to as a tactical aircraft, and a replacement for 4th generation or legacy
aircraft. It is really something quite different.

It represents a dramatic shift from the past. For the first time in history, individual F-35 pilots –A, B or C – will
have the best database of real time knowledge in the history of combat aviation. And all of this is internal to
their cockpit and enabled by advances in computer processing and sensor information fusing.

Each F-35 pilot combined with human sensing (seeing visual cues outside the cockpit) will be enabled by
machine driven sensor fusion to allow combat “situational awareness” (SA) better than any other opponent.

Concurrent with their ability to look- see, which is limited by physical realities, the F-35 pilot will be able to
“see” using cockpit electronic displays and signals to their helmet allowing them not to just fight with their
individual aircraft but be able to network and direct engagements at hundreds of miles in 360 Degrees of 3
dimensional space out to all connected platforms.

A fleet of F-35s will be able to share their fused information display at the speed of light to other aircraft
and other platforms, such as ships, subs, satellites, and land based forces, including UAVs and eventually
robots. Tactically, “Aegis is my wingman, ”“SSGN is my fire support” will be developed for conventional
warfare.

This enables a “tactical” aircraft to evolve into a key technology for strategic operations and impacts.

Second Line of Defense

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