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And because of the technology limitations of Command and Control battle manage-
ment was focused on building a better and better “Observe Orient” half of his OODA
formula”, AWACS and Navy E-2s are examples of providing “bogy Dope” to a radar
empowered fighter.

With the F-35 Cockpit Z-axis the key words are actually now embedded in the second
half of Boyd’s OODA –the words “decide, act.”

The quest for US way of war to always fight and win is to now embrace the entire spec-
trum of Boyd’s OODA by not questing just for Situational Awareness, because that is
only half way but rather everything should is now focused on developing technology,
training tactics and C&C at all levels to empower “Situational Decisions.”

Consideration has to be taken into account of the F-35 active systems, both radar and
DAS but also the combat revolution of attacking in a stealth aircraft using state-of-the-
art passive sensing beyond anything ever seen in combat.

This is the true revolutionary step beyond just SA that the “z-axis” F-35 “fusion engine”
brings to the fight as a catalyst for a 21st Century refocused way of support equipping
and training all Service joint con-ops.

General Mike Hostage, then Commander of the USAF Air Combat Command captures
this dynamic of 5th gen and F-35 perfectly:

People focus on stealth as the determining factor or delineator of the fifth generation. It isn’t; it’s
fusion. Fusion is what makes that platform so fundamentally different than anything else. And
that’s why if anybody tries to tell you hey, I got a 4.5 airplane, a 4.8 airplane, don’t believe them.
All that they’re talking about is RCS (Radar Cross Section).

Fusion is the fundamental delineator. And you’re not going to put fusion into a fourth gen air-
plane because their avionic suites are not set up to be a fused platform. And fusion changes how
you use the platform.

Second Line of Defense December 2014

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