Page 17 - F-35B and USMC

The Integration of the F-35B into USMC Operations

The Marines are writing the CAS Manual for the F-35. How are you finding the F-35 in that role
compared to what you have now?

Price: In the CAS role it is performing well. Being a new aircraft there are some capabilities we’d like to continue
working on, but the basic execution of CAS is “On Time, On Target.”

The jet is more than capable to execute that.

The unique capability it brings is executing CAS in the presence of a wide range of threats (something I could not
do with previous platform).

Can you give me an example?

Traditionally (Gen 4) if we are executing CAS and a medium range surface to air missile (SAM) pops up on the
battlefield, we are done with CAS.

We immediately transition into a SEAD, destruction of enemy air defense (DEAD), or reactive SEAD mindset. With
the F-35, we may continue to execute CAS because of freedom of maneuver (stealth) and the SA I have about
the threat, its location and its nature.

I may advise the forward air controller (FAC) that a threat has appeared, but it won’t impact mission
execution. If the situation gets more threatening, I have the organic capability to go deal with the threat and then
roll right back into CAS. Previously I would have to call in another platform, potentially call in our Prowlers or
call in other combined arms to take care of the threat.

The F-35 enables a wide array of CAS execution in a wide array of environments, so from the low-end threat
spectrum to the high-end threat spectrum I am capable of executing any of those missions.

Mo: We have greater all weather capability.
The synthetic aperture radar (SAR) maps give the capability to see through weather and deploy ordinance
through the weather from a significant stand-off distance (or in proximity).

The ability to employ ordinance through the weather with high quality targeting is impressive.

I know every guy up here and myself included, we take a lot of pride in the fact of our CAS.

There’s been much said about the airplane in the CAS role, some good, some bad, but to us it’s important that a
lot of that goes back to the man/woman in the cockpit and the fact that it says Marines on the back of the
airplane.

It means the guys in need of CAS are going to get a level of support consistent with what they’ve had out of the
Hornets, Harriers and all the airplanes we’ve flown before.

We all take pride in that.
We’re going to give you a lot more capabilities, but it is the fact that we are Marines, and Marines is written on the
aircraft – that makes it very important to us up there.

Thinking about the electronic warfare (EW) suite and its ability to detect waveforms and come up with
countermeasures.

How do you interface with that as a pilot, is it something you make decisions about, or is automatic?

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