Page 55 - North Atlantic and Nordic Defense

North European and North Atlantic Defense: The Challenges Return

“As we get this right, we can bring in the Danes, the Norwegians and Dutch who are close in
geography and the Israelis and Italians as well to shape the evolving joint operational culture and
approach.

“Before you know it, you’ve got eight countries flying this airplane seamlessly integrated because of
the work that Lakenheath and Marham are doing in the 20 nautical miles radius of the two bases.”

http://www.sldinfo.com/raf-lakenheath-prepares-for-the-future-usaf-f-35as-and-f-15s-combine-with-raf-
capabilities-to-provide-a-21st-century-deterrent-force/

As important as this might be for the USAF overall, for the Danes and the Nordics it is the coin of the realm.

To be blunt: to leverage every aspect out of the F-35 as a common coalition aircraft will be essential to
defense in the Nordic region and the transformation of their forces to deal with the direct Russian threat.

This means leveraging common pilot training, leveraging pilots across the enterprise in case of shortages
within a national air force, common logistics stores in the region, common maintenance regimes, common data
sharing, and shared combat learning.

This clearly is a work in progress and what one might call F-35 2.0.

F-35 1.0 is getting the plane and operating it in squadrons; F-35 2.0 is leveraging the aircraft as part of an
overall transformation process.

In my discussion during a visit to Copenhagen in October 2017, I had a chance to talk again with ERA (his call
sign).

And he was focused on F-35 2.0, probably in part because the new Danish defense agreement in process if
clearly focused on countering the Russian A2/AD strategy in the region.

“When I talk with F-35 pilots, the same message is drilled into me – this is not a replacement aircraft; this is
not like any aircraft you have flown before.

"The aircraft enables our air combat forces to play a whole new ballgame.

"And from my discussions with Australians, the Norwegians, the Dutch and the Brits, it is clear that the common
drive is to shape a fifth generation combat force, not simply fly the current 256 F-35s as cool, new jets.”

He thought in terms of F-35 2.0 to trigger a broader transformation.

And this makes sense, because in large part the F-35 is not simply a fighter which you define but what it does
by itself organically, but, rather by what it can trigger in the overall combat fleet, whether lethal or non-lethal
payloads.

“We need to focus on the management of big data generated by the F-35 and other assets that will come
into the force.

"How do we do the right kind of command and control within a rich information battlespace?

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