Page 4 - Tron Warfare.pages

It is not an in and of itself platform; it is about what an integrated fleet of F-35s can de-
liver to TRANSFORM operations.

The decade ahead can be very innovative if what the fleet brings to the fight is learned
and applied and the combat warriors leverage what they learn and then the application
of those lessons to reshaping the force are applied.

As a senior RAF pilot involved with the F-35 program has put it well: “While much of
the world still debates the existence of the F-35, we are moving rapidly forward to fig-
ure out how to use the aircraft and leverage it.”

At the heart of the transformation is the combination of two powerful trends: the emer-
gence of Tron warfare and the forging of a combat cloud integrating combat capabilities.

The F-35 fleet operates at the cutting edge of both.

The Emergence of Tron Warfare

The F-35 is known as a 5th generation state-of-the-art combat aircraft with stealth for
survivability.

The F-35 Lightning II is often discussed in a performance trend clustering over time
with the F-22 Raptor, the Russian Sukhoi PAK FA T 50, and various emerging PLAAF
aircraft such as Chengdu J-20 and the just announced J-31.

A 5th Gen well designed stealthy aircraft can operate very effectively in both a Fighter
(AA) and Attack (AG) role until it can’t.

Yet reducing the F-35 to stealth essentially misses the point of the impact of an F-35
global fleet on reshaping US and allied combat operations.

I highlighted what I think is the key shift in an interview with Wendell Minnick of De-
fense News in a discussion of the emergence of the J-31:

Second Line of Defense December 2014

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