Page 56 - Maritime Services and the Kill Web

The Maritime Services, the Allies and Shaping the Kill Web

The F-35B will continue with this new generation of a V/STOL aircraft to work its flexibility with regard to
ships and landing bases, which do not necessarily have to be regular airfields.

FIGURE 9 VMFA-121 CONDUCTS STOVAL OPERATIONS AT USMC AIR STATION ON MAY 3, 2016. VMFA-121 IS NOW LOCATED IN JAPAN AND
OPERATES AS KEY ASSET FOR PACOM IN CURRENT OPERATIONS IN ADDITON TO ITS ARG-MEU ROLE.
The flexibility, which the B provides, is an inherent advantage in the Pacific, with its rich tapestry of islands
from which to operate to have the unique “F/A/E -35B” integrate into the emerging Kill Webs as expressed
by Rear Admiral Manazir.

We had a chance to talk with Lt. Col. Bardo, the CO of the squadron, who is taking the squadron to Japan
but will soon thereafter transition from the squadron.

But Bardo has been with the squadron during its IOC and work up with the Marine Corps for its deployment to
Japan.

He and his squadron are performing key historical tasks as the cutting edge operational F-35 squadron in the
world.
This is an unusual situation for the Marines to find themselves in terms of combat air, but the flexibility of a
combat information dominance aircraft fits right in with the evolving concepts of operations of the Marines.

Lt. Col. Bardo underscored the importance of Close Air Support for Marines and the role which the F-35 can
play in significantly expanding the scope and nature of close air support.

“CAS is considered doctrinally a function which operates only in a permissive air environment.
We can expand CAS to deal with a much wider range of situations than when we would simply operate in a
permissive air environment.

And we can provide greater assurance to Marines as they deploy on the ground that we can deal with a
much wider array of pop-up threats than we could do with legacy aircraft.”

Lt. Col. Bardo described the path to get to where the squadron was right now as it prepared for its Japanese
deployment.

Second Line of Defense

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