Page 9 - Maritime Services and the Kill Web

The Maritime Services, the Allies and Shaping the Kill Web

WHILE EARLIER STRAIGHT-WINGED JETS SUCH AS THE F-80 AND F-84 INITIALLY ACHIEVED AIR VICTORIES, WHEN THE SWEPT
WING SOVIET MIG-15 WAS INTRODUCED IN NOVEMBER 1950, IT OUTPERFORMED ALL UN-BASED AIRCRAFT. IN RESPONSE,
THREE SQUADRONS OF F-86S WERE RUSHED TO THE FAR EAST IN DECEMBER.

EARLY VARIANTS OF THE F-86 COULD NOT OUTTURN, BUT THEY COULD OUT DIVE THE MIG-15, ALTHOUGH THE MIG-15
WAS SUPERIOR TO THE EARLY F-86 MODELS IN CEILING, ACCELERATION, RATE OF CLIMB AND ZOOM.

WITH THE INTRODUCTION OF THE F-86F IN 1953, THE TWO AIRCRAFT WERE MORE CLOSELY MATCHED, WITH MANY COMBAT-
EXPERIENCED PILOTS CLAIMING A MARGINAL SUPERIORITY FOR THE F-86F.

THE HEAVIER FIREPOWER OF THE MIG (AND MANY OTHER CONTEMPORARY FIGHTERS) WAS ADDRESSED BY FIELDING EIGHT
CANNON ARMED FS IN THE WANING MONTHS OF THE WAR. DESPITE BEING ABLE TO FIRE ONLY TWO OF THE FOUR 20 MM
CANNON AT A TIME, THE EXPERIMENT WAS CONSIDERED A SUCCESS.
By adding a “Payload Utility” function to the OODA dynamic, we can recognize the important growth of
fighters from just a motor, a “bubble canopy, and a gun sight to embracing the important technology
evolution/revolution of weapon design that advances how a nation’s military can put all the pieces together
with a central unity of purpose.
Focusing on Payload Utility can drive the appropriate integration of platforms and people in to the
modern battlefield OODA loop.

The payload function is a critical determinant of combat success.

Any enemy of America that thinks our Joint Staff and the planning staffs in our Combat Commands do not
have a firm understanding of the effects of munitions does so at their mortal peril.
In fact the greatest payload utility Airpower campaign “death from above” in history was Desert Storm.

Those planners were gifted in mixing and matching the utility of various payloads.

I have emphasized in my work, the innovations driven by the squadron pilots in thinking about the con-ops
necessary to shape combat innovation. In the Desert Storm, case then Lt. Col. David Deptula exemplified how
such innovation occurs and allows for the air enabled combat force to innovate and shape a war winning
force.

Just like the recent MOAB in Afghanistan and the 59 out of 60 missile “shacks” launched by USS Porter and
USS Ross against Syria, the individual and combined use of all American ordinance is well known and has
been successfully used in combat.
From the Initial Jet Age to the Fifth Gen World

One command published a very smart payload document: “Commanders Handbook for Joint Battle Damage
Assessment”

This publication was from the Joint War Fighting Center that became Joint Forces Command headed by
General Mattis before then JFCOM was stood down.
http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/doctrine/jwfc/hbk_jbda.pdf

Payload utility (Pu) in the terms of this think piece is seen as the end result of many human decisions aided by
technology.

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