Emergence Z Axis: Changing Way Airpower Enables Combat Ops
The Emergence of the Z Axis: Changing the Way Airpower Enables Combat Operations 08/21/2011 by Robbin Laird
http://www.sldinfo.com/the-emergence-of ... perations/
"In a Defense News op ed which I wrote several years ago, I introduced the concept of the F-35 as a flying combat system, not a fifth generation aircraft. What I was highlighting was a shift from a generational understanding of the evolution of the aircraft which focused on stealth, to an understanding that what is carried INSIDE the aircraft coupled with the new physical characteristics of the aircraft provided a significant demarcation epoch in combat aviation history.
The evolution of the F-35 as a platform is best understood not simply as an evolution from F-18s, and F-16s in terms of the physical characteristics of the airframe and the ability of the aircraft to operate more effectively, but laying the foundation for an entirely new way to do air combat. This new way is something we referred to as the “re-norming of airpower.”....
This is a very long article if all the embedded links to other articles are read. Here is one illustration: http://www.sldinfo.com/wp-content/uploa ... Z-Axis.jpg
http://www.sldinfo.com/the-emergence-of ... perations/
"In a Defense News op ed which I wrote several years ago, I introduced the concept of the F-35 as a flying combat system, not a fifth generation aircraft. What I was highlighting was a shift from a generational understanding of the evolution of the aircraft which focused on stealth, to an understanding that what is carried INSIDE the aircraft coupled with the new physical characteristics of the aircraft provided a significant demarcation epoch in combat aviation history.
The evolution of the F-35 as a platform is best understood not simply as an evolution from F-18s, and F-16s in terms of the physical characteristics of the airframe and the ability of the aircraft to operate more effectively, but laying the foundation for an entirely new way to do air combat. This new way is something we referred to as the “re-norming of airpower.”....
This is a very long article if all the embedded links to other articles are read. Here is one illustration: http://www.sldinfo.com/wp-content/uploa ... Z-Axis.jpg
“Re-Norming” Air Operations A Publication of Second Line of Defense
http://www.sldinfo.com/wp-content/uploa ... ations.pdf (1Mb)
http://www.sldinfo.com/wp-content/uploa ... ations.pdf (1Mb)
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The F-35 really is a whole new way of fighting war. It's like going from muskets to riffles all over again. I think what the Pentagon and Lockheed Martin need to do is give the Senate Arms committee a week of training in the F-35 and then put them in the F-16 and F-18 simulators so they can see first hand the difference technology makes.
alloycowboy wrote:The F-35 really is a whole new way of fighting war. It's like going from muskets to riffles all over again. I think what the Pentagon and Lockheed Martin need to do is give the Senate Arms committee a week of training in the F-35 and then put them in the F-16 and F-18 simulators so they can see first hand the difference technology makes.
Unfortunately, politicans' brains are wired differently and I don't think it will make a differernce. Look at John McCain.. when he morphed into a politician all the "right stuff"got lost in the conversion.
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I wonder how long it will take for pilots and planners to learn how to fully utilize all the new capabilities the F-35 provides?
Not long to learn new way of conops at all given the F-35 simulators have been available now for some time and this is where most of the tactical learning and simulation will take place. Navy pilots elsewhere have mentioned how the F-35 will 'fly itself' (on autopilot) whilst the pilot will be concerned about the tactical situation - typical AF they said. Probably said in a nice way though.
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@Popcorn..... If John McCain cancels the F-35 you can expect a bunch of angry Canadian kids to over run the United States with hockey sticks. You don’t think we play street hockey up here just for fun do you?
Another Oldie but Goldie from SLDinfo:
THREE-DIMENSIONAL WARRIORS
http://www.sldinfo.com/wp-content/uploa ... arrior.pdf (3Mb)
Worth rereading to become more familiar with the DAS advantages and computer training amongst many other things. Here are some quotes that got my attention. DAS + HMDS
"The Distributed Aperture System and 360-Degree Situational Awareness p.24
SLD: How does the new helmet for the F-35 interact with the DAS?
Rossi: The DAS provides 360-degree NAFLIR (Navigation Forward Looking Infrared) capability.
So if you think about it we’re out there staring at the world. We have all this information. We can then take and post-process where the pilot is looking on his helmet. We also have an auxiliary channel where he can dial in any particular sector that he wants to keep track of and we can give him near 20/20 IR imagery of the world about him.
So now night landings on carriers are fully enabled. We show this stuff to Navy pilots and they’re just awestruck that they can even see the horizon, let alone the boat out there and the wake.
&
Preparing for the F-35: The 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin Air Force Base Stands Up a Comprehensive Training Facility (p.61)
http://www.sldinfo.com/wp-content/uploa ... arrior.pdf
“...Col Tomassetti: ...We are taking full advantage of electronic classrooms—using a variety of electronic media. Most everything that the pilots will do in a classroom environment is computerbased. Whether you’re a pilot or a maintainer you will start out in the electronic classrooms, some of which are led by human instructors and some which are purely computer-led. As an example, the pilots who check in here will be issued a laptop and that laptop, of course, will allow them to access information, words, and pictures about the F-35 that they are learning how to fly.
Additionally, it will allow them to practice procedures that they will need in the cockpit. You can replicate some of the displays that appear in the cockpit of the airplane on the laptop. You can activate certain menus. You can drilldown through certain menus. You can work through certain procedures on the laptop including—if you check out the stick and throttle that can be connected to the laptop—actual practice missions and practice profiles. That can be done in the academic training center, and we’re working through what it would take for those pilot students to take that capability home and practice at their own leisure for learning.
SLD: Are there cost savings as a result of this approach?
Col Tomassetti: Absolutely. When I was a student going through initial flight training, I was issued a stack of books that I had to carry with me from day to day. If I was going to take anything home, I had to drag that big bag of books home. Digitizing all that stuff gives you access to everything that’s ever been written or documented to that point in time about the F-35. So if a student is particularly interested in a certain thing and the one page or the one paragraph in the flight manual doesn’t fulfill their curiosity, they have the ability to dig down further into engineering drawings and background and stuff that I, as a student, could never access....”
http://attach.high-g.net/attachments/da ... ef_287.jpg
FROM: F-35C, EO/DAS, and Night Landings?
http://www.f-16.net/index.php?name=PNph ... c&p=164376
FROM: F-35 Tail Hook.ppt (4.6Mb)
http://www.f-16.net/f-16_forum_download-id-12218.html
THREE-DIMENSIONAL WARRIORS
http://www.sldinfo.com/wp-content/uploa ... arrior.pdf (3Mb)
Worth rereading to become more familiar with the DAS advantages and computer training amongst many other things. Here are some quotes that got my attention. DAS + HMDS
"The Distributed Aperture System and 360-Degree Situational Awareness p.24
SLD: How does the new helmet for the F-35 interact with the DAS?
Rossi: The DAS provides 360-degree NAFLIR (Navigation Forward Looking Infrared) capability.
So if you think about it we’re out there staring at the world. We have all this information. We can then take and post-process where the pilot is looking on his helmet. We also have an auxiliary channel where he can dial in any particular sector that he wants to keep track of and we can give him near 20/20 IR imagery of the world about him.
So now night landings on carriers are fully enabled. We show this stuff to Navy pilots and they’re just awestruck that they can even see the horizon, let alone the boat out there and the wake.
&
Preparing for the F-35: The 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin Air Force Base Stands Up a Comprehensive Training Facility (p.61)
http://www.sldinfo.com/wp-content/uploa ... arrior.pdf
“...Col Tomassetti: ...We are taking full advantage of electronic classrooms—using a variety of electronic media. Most everything that the pilots will do in a classroom environment is computerbased. Whether you’re a pilot or a maintainer you will start out in the electronic classrooms, some of which are led by human instructors and some which are purely computer-led. As an example, the pilots who check in here will be issued a laptop and that laptop, of course, will allow them to access information, words, and pictures about the F-35 that they are learning how to fly.
Additionally, it will allow them to practice procedures that they will need in the cockpit. You can replicate some of the displays that appear in the cockpit of the airplane on the laptop. You can activate certain menus. You can drilldown through certain menus. You can work through certain procedures on the laptop including—if you check out the stick and throttle that can be connected to the laptop—actual practice missions and practice profiles. That can be done in the academic training center, and we’re working through what it would take for those pilot students to take that capability home and practice at their own leisure for learning.
SLD: Are there cost savings as a result of this approach?
Col Tomassetti: Absolutely. When I was a student going through initial flight training, I was issued a stack of books that I had to carry with me from day to day. If I was going to take anything home, I had to drag that big bag of books home. Digitizing all that stuff gives you access to everything that’s ever been written or documented to that point in time about the F-35. So if a student is particularly interested in a certain thing and the one page or the one paragraph in the flight manual doesn’t fulfill their curiosity, they have the ability to dig down further into engineering drawings and background and stuff that I, as a student, could never access....”
http://attach.high-g.net/attachments/da ... ef_287.jpg
FROM: F-35C, EO/DAS, and Night Landings?
http://www.f-16.net/index.php?name=PNph ... c&p=164376
FROM: F-35 Tail Hook.ppt (4.6Mb)
http://www.f-16.net/f-16_forum_download-id-12218.html
'Z Axis' Article has been updated with this lot:
http://www.sldinfo.com/the-emergence-of ... perations/
Updated August 27, 2011
"An F-18 pilot discussed the impact of the shift from a fleet to a cockpit in executing C4ISR D or in the terms of this article the Z axis in the following video shot at a recent USMC exercise in North Carolina.
http://www.sldinfo.com/shaping-an-econo ... the-f-35b/
Secretary Wynne, a key architect of the entire approach to re-thinking the role of tactical aircraft around the 5th generation concept, commented as follows:
This begins to coalesce around ‘Spherical Situation Awareness’. Bringing in the ‘Z’ axis is an important stroke that allows interoperability re-engagement across the force. If we can get sensors to share, and leverage our precision system; we have enough persistence in platform positioning instruments that we can align off of each other and fight in degraded environment."
http://www.sldinfo.com/the-emergence-of ... perations/
Updated August 27, 2011
"An F-18 pilot discussed the impact of the shift from a fleet to a cockpit in executing C4ISR D or in the terms of this article the Z axis in the following video shot at a recent USMC exercise in North Carolina.
http://www.sldinfo.com/shaping-an-econo ... the-f-35b/
Secretary Wynne, a key architect of the entire approach to re-thinking the role of tactical aircraft around the 5th generation concept, commented as follows:
This begins to coalesce around ‘Spherical Situation Awareness’. Bringing in the ‘Z’ axis is an important stroke that allows interoperability re-engagement across the force. If we can get sensors to share, and leverage our precision system; we have enough persistence in platform positioning instruments that we can align off of each other and fight in degraded environment."
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The only people who have difficulty defining 5th gen are the APA & their fanboys. For everyone else it's simple: stealth (or more precisely a VLO airframe).
"The early bird gets the worm but the second mouse gets the cheese."
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SpudmanWP wrote:The only people who have difficulty defining 5th gen are the APA & their fanboys. For everyone else it's simple: stealth (or more precisely a VLO airframe).
Really Spudman? Is that all it takes? I thought it was stealth, sensor fusion, advanced manoeuverability and supercruise. But I guess it's whatever LM say it is, after all it is their trademark.
Wikipedia wrote:US fighter manufacturer Lockheed Martin uses "fifth generation fighter" to describe the F-22 and F-35 fighters, with the definition including "advanced stealth", "extreme performance", "information fusion" and "advanced sustainment". Their definition does not include supercruise capability, which has typically been associated with the more advanced modern fighters, but which the F-35 lacks. Lockheed Martin attempted to trademark the term "5th generation fighters" in association with jet aircraft and structural parts thereof, and has a trademark to a logo with the term. http://tarr.uspto.gov/tarr?regser=serial&entry=78896843&action=Request+Status
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Obviously there are other characteristics that make up what a 5th gen fighter is. Those other (besides VLO) attributes can be retrofitted, in one way or another, to 4th gen fighters. VLO airframes cannot be retrofitted. In this way "stealth" becomes the defining 5th gen characteristic.
"The early bird gets the worm but the second mouse gets the cheese."
Learning maintenance from a computer? Riiiight...y'all have fun with that. Instructional videos and weird interactive programs will never be able to replace a human instructor. Could C-3PO? Sure. But not Windows 18 on an LCD projector.
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