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knows what is the next evolution, but we know it is coming. And the plane is built to anticipate
change.

Recently a Marine Corps general underscored that we are not making this airplane for Harrier
pilots. In fact, most F-35 pilots haven’t been born yet.

You’re making it for the next generation. And they’re going to jump into the cockpit and they’re
going to see a Nintendo or a PlayStation or whatever is the deal at that time.

But they’re not like us old guys that are looking for air speed, altitude, conventional electro-me-
chanical gauges. They literally see a video console in front of them, and we’ve got to make the
airplane for them. They can deal with information and they can process it differently than you
and I can….

It is also about survivability in an information dominance environment. By reducing
the gaggle of aircraft to an interactive air system with other combat assets, we can pur-
sue air dominance against a reactive enemy. It will be a different paradigm leveraging
the Z-axis to pursue information dominance.

Dealing with the Hypersonic Missile Threat

An example of how to leverage the Z-axis for a fleet of F-35s will be seen in the game of
tracking hypersonic cruise missiles.

The PLA military threat in numbers and quality is growing, PLA is generic for all Army,
Navy, AF and missile forces.

So it is now time to accept that a war-changing weapon is in late stages of R&D and it
must be accounted for in any battle plan.

Unlike distant “hyper-sonic” R&D efforts such a Global Strategic Strike -a hypersonic
cruise missile is a rapid evolving technology, which sooner than later will be demon-
strating the art of the possible up close and personal. Such a revolutionary CM in the
US arsenal is a very good thing. In the hands of PLA forces it is a very real “wolf at the
door.”

Second Line of Defense December 2014

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