UK F-35B CONOPS from CVFs from SLDinfo

spazsinbad · by **spazsinbad** » 27 Sep 2015, 18:47

Due to one complaint about the very long thread about UKops F-35Bwise on CVFs and MoD in a MUDDLE we have a new starter for a very long thread? Who cares about the UK & skyJumpies SRVLies - am I rite or am I rong? :mrgreen:

This is another VERY LONG article BEST read at source - only surface skimmed excerpts here. :devil:

Shaping a New Combat Capability for 21st Century Operations: The Coming of the F-35B to the New British Carrier
27 Sep 2015 Robbin Laird

"Editor’s Note: The practical implications of the analysis provided by the RAF Group Captain for journalists, analysts and GAO types is pretty fundamental: don’t analyze the ship without reference to the plane; and don’t discuss the plane as a replacement platform for together the Queen Elizabeth and the F-35B are a 21 century air system. We have argued that no platform fights alone, and clearly this true for the Queen Elizabeth."

"...What is often missed is that the F-35B coming to the carrier or the large deck amphibious ship is not just about the airplane, it is about the evolving combat air system which the integration of the ship and the strike/ISR/C2 aircraft brings to the force....

...Question: It was clear looking at reactions to the USS Wasp sea trials, that the core point of the integration of the ship with the airplane was largely missed. The Queen Elizabeth is a ship designed for the F-35B and the F-35B will provide unique capabilities which the ship can capitalize on in shaping its concept of operations. How would you describe this synergistic process?
Group Captain Townsend: As an airman, I like anything that enhances my ability to deliver air power, and the ship certainly does that. The ship has been tailor-made from first principles to deliver F-35 operational output. The ship is part of the F35 air system.

I think this is the key change to where we were in Joint Force Harrier where the ship was really just a delivery vehicle. The ship was just a runway.

The Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers are much more than that. They are right at the heart of the air system’s capability fundamentally enabling and supporting what the air vehicle is doing three, or four, or five hundred miles away from the ship.

And that wasn’t quite the same in Joint Force Harrier with the Invincible Class CVS carriers. So it’s very different for us.

Everyone involved in embarked F-35 operations needs to understand what the air vehicle is going off to do because everybody on the ship is much closer to that end delivery of effect. This is a very different concept of operations from 15 years ago.

When I launched from the CVS in 2005 to fly an operational misison in Afghanistan, once I left the deck, I was gone. The next contact I would have with the ship was when I called for recovery, several hours later. Whilst I was airborne the ship and I became very separate operational platforms.

When a UK Lightning launches from the QUEEN ELIZABETH, the information link between the air vehicle and the ship now means that they remain connected during the operation greatly enhancing operational capability. In terms of being an information node or a C2 node, we’re in a much different place now. And I think that’s really quite interesting for us as air commanders in terms of our ability to control what is going on forward with the airplanes.

I also think from a pilot’s perspective, being on the deck in my F-35, being able to see in my cockpit what is going on in the battle space, because my brothers in their F-35s already in the operational battlespace have sent information back to me, I think that’s really exciting as well.

We are no longer launching into the unknown. We can see what’s happening. We understand what we’re going off to go and do, but we can see the real-time situation in the battle space before we launch off the deck. This is a significant operational benefit....

...Question: How would characterize the role of the F-35 compared to the other elements in the evolving RAF air combat force?
Group Captain Townsend: The F-35 is not a multi-role fighter. Multi-role, in current thinking, would be a sequential series of tasks. The F-35 is doing a number of missions simultaneously. The concept of mission simultaneity is really important.

The airplane has the ability to do things without the pilot asking it to do it. Automatically conducting, particularly, ISR whilst it’s conducting an OCA mission or an attack mission in a very different way than platforms have done business in the past. This is something that other operators are working in the package alongside F-35 need to understand.

That the F-35 operator won’t be going through sequential thought process. He will be thinking about the battle space in a broader sense, a much different way than a Typhoon operator would be thinking about the battle space.

I think there is another step change and difference in the way in which the information is displayed to the pilot which is important and is extremely intuitive. I’ll give you an example. I commanded a Typhoon squadron for two years.

Very early on this job with F-35, I was lucky enough to fly the F-35 simulator. and the different way in which F35 displays information compared to Typhoon is eye-catching. In fact, I asked for the simulator to be stopped because I was taken aback by the information being displayed to me. There was just so much data available at my fingertips, but displayed in a really different sense in Typhoon.

So very, very quickly, I knew a great deal about the entity being targeted – sensor fusion at work. I think it’s a very different way of displaying information that any other fast jet has done before.

Knowing what my wingman is seeing and my wingman knowing what I am seeing, and my ability to communicate what I want to have achieved by my formation, by my package, which all may be by the air wing that’s air-borne at the time. This airplane changes the game in a way which we can conduct that sort of business.

Question: What is the potential for the Royal Navy of having you guys on board and of re-thinking where they want to take the development of the surface fleet?
Group Captain Townsend: I think this plays very much into the concept that ‘Aegis is my wingman’. I think from a U.K. perspective, Type 45 is my wingman.

The importance there is that the F-35 pilot for the U.K. or for any of F-35 operator, the information he has available to him allows him to make decisions for other operators in the battle space. And that is not simply other operators meaning other airplanes; that is, other operators being air, land, or maritime platforms.

The ability for the F-35 pilot to control the battle space in its entirety means that people operating in the surface fleet, for example, need to understand what the F-35 can achieve. Because if they don’t, they don’t know what the F-35 pilot is going to ask them to do when they ask them to do it.

So they have to instinctively understand the capability of the airplane, because every, every platform involved in the battle space now is part of what the F-35 air system can deliver in terms of operational effect.

I think the fifth-generation capability sets the context for the battle space. You have to understand, when you’ve got a capability that is so different in the battle space. If you cannot connect into it or influence or, or interact with it, your utility and your fourth-generation platform or your surface ship Type 45, is significantly reduced....

...Question: Training for the expanded battlespace is a challenge, and the F-35 is part of the evolving training challenge. The UK has very limited air space in which to train. How are dealing with this challenge?
Group Captain Townsend: There are number of reasons that make the U.K., I think, unique in its approach to synthetics. We don’t have access to airspace around the U.K. that allows us to use the full capability of F-35.

For security reasons, we wouldn’t want to expose the full capability of F-35.

And we also lack some of the threats, some of the high-end surface-to-air missile threats, for example, that we want to train against. All of this forces us into the synthetic environment which is not a scary place for the U.K. fleet because the Typhoon force has been exploiting synthetics now aggressively for the last couple of years.

Now the peculiar thing for the U.K. is the closer we get to conducting a warfighting operation, the more we will fly the simulator rather than the live airplane. And if I was to put that premise to any USAF pilot or U.S. Marine Corps pilot, they would look at me cock-eyed. But it’s the only way we can train at the high-end.

Fortunately, we’ve already got capability demonstrated and we’ve been using this for the last five or six years at RAF Waddington where we’ve got a joint synthetic environment that allows us to connect Type 45 to Typhoon to E3 with a joint flight simulator so we can conduct CAS for the fire support team. That technology is already proven.

What we need to do now is take the next step which is introduce the higher security capable F-35 into the lower security environment of Typhoon and E3. Again, not impossible, proven through scientific programs, what you need to know is make our frontline service capability.

But synthetic training is, is something that we’re looking at extremely closely because it’s the only way we’re going to get operational capability from the F-35. We can’t do it live in the U.K...."

Source: http://www.sldinfo.com/shaping-a-new-co ... h-carrier/

oldiaf · by **oldiaf** » 27 Sep 2015, 19:52

Why I sense the theme is similar to the theme of movie stealth :mrgreen:

popcorn · by **popcorn** » 28 Sep 2015, 11:37

From the SLD article Spaz linked :
I think there is another step change and difference in the way in which the information is displayed to the pilot which is important and is extremely intuitive. I’ll give you an example. I commanded a Typhoon squadron for two years.

Very early on this job with F-35, I was lucky enough to fly the F-35 simulator. and the different way in which F35 displays information compared to Typhoon is eye-catching. In fact, I asked for the simulator to be stopped because I was taken aback by the information being displayed to me. There was just so much data available at my fingertips, but displayed in a really different sense in Typhoon.

So very, very quickly, I knew a great deal about the entity being targeted – sensor fusion at work. I think it’s a very different way of displaying information that any other fast jet has done before.

Knowing what my wingman is seeing and my wingman knowing what I am seeing, and my ability to communicate what I want to have achieved by my formation, by my package, which all may be by the air wing that’s air-borne at the time. This airplane changes the game in a way which we can conduct that sort of business.

Clearly the sensor fusion as implemented on the F-35 was an epiphany for the Group Captain. Various claims for sensor fusion being fitted to Gen4+ platforms but it seems that these come nowhere close to what the JSF provides.

spazsinbad · by **spazsinbad** » 28 Sep 2015, 13:28

Already I know RAF CRABS trolls have taken above quote 'out of context' which is OPS Normal for dem: However RN FAA to the rescue - as ever. :twisted:

Video brought to you by BriainFaarht....

"...[CRAB Occifer] asked for the simulator to be stopped because I was taken aback by the information being displayed to me. There was just so much data available at my fingertips..."

spazsinbad · by **spazsinbad** » 01 Oct 2015, 02:34

Not a subscriber so this'll have to do.... I'll have to be a headline mouth breathing reader only...

U.S. Marines Could Play Major Role In U.K. Carrier Operations
01 Oct 2015 Sweetman & Osborne

"Senior officers in both the U.S. Marine Corps and British Royal Navy agree that Marine Corps Lockheed Martin F-35B Joint Strike Fighters (JSF) will operate regularly from the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales. The question is how many fighters and when, and it appears to be a sensitive issue due to the impending release of the U.K.’s Strategic Defense and Security Review (SDSR). One option under study is to attach a [US] Marine F-35B ..."

Source: http://aviationweek.com/defense/us-mari ... operations

spazsinbad · by **spazsinbad** » 09 Oct 2015, 12:50

For the crabs - knowing their limits - we have the USMC to thank - again and as the world turns a week goes by - <sigh>.
A WERY LONG post best read at source but hear ye hear ye are some of the bits. I like the dig about HEAT - again <sigh>.

U.S. Marines Could Play Major Role In U.K. Carrier Operations
09 Oct 2015 Bill Sweetman and Tony Osborne | Aviation Week & Space Technology
This article was originally published on October 1 for Aviation Week & Space Technology subscribers.

"Senior officers in both the U.S. Marine Corps and British Royal Navy agree that Marine Corps Lockheed Martin F-35B Joint Strike Fighters (JSF) will operate regularly from the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales. The question is how many fighters and when, and it appears to be a sensitive issue due to the impending release of the U.K.’s Strategic Defense and Security Review (SDSR).

One option under study is to attach a Marine F-35B squadron full-time to the U.K. carrier force, alongside the two planned British squadrons, according to a source close to the U.S. Navy aviation community. While senior officers say it is much too early to focus on any one joint-force structure, they acknowledge many options are being considered, and the Marines specifically identify the British ships as potential bases in their most recent aviation plan.

The SDSR is expected to clarify two related issues. First, the U.K. has committed to buying 48 JSFs between now and the early 2020s but has not set any timescale for further orders: Its original plan was to buy 138 F-35s. Second, the British government in 2014 reversed its decision (in the 2010 SDSR) to mothball or sell one of the carriers but has not said whether both will sail full-time or they will operate on an overlapping cycle that keeps one ship available at all times. But the 48-aircraft force is expected, at best, to generate only one “maximum effort exercise” every other year with 24 embarked jets, while the carriers were designed to support 36 F-35s each, full-time....

...One factor that may mitigate the shortage of British F-35s is that the U.K., with military planning increasingly influenced by U.S. Joint Forces Command, is moving toward a broader mission for the carriers in which they carry more than F-35s and supporting aircraft. Their role is now defined as “carrier-enabled power projection” or CEPP, according to Rear Adm. Simon Blount, assistant chief of the British naval staff and senior responsible owner for the Queen Elizabeth class. Speaking at the DSEi show in London in September, Blount said CEPP “is not a term with a long history. Carrier strike is the term people understand.”

At one end of the CEPP spectrum is carrier strike, with the ship dedicated to air warfare and carrying F-35Bs, supported by two versions of the Merlin HM2 helicopter: Crowsnest airborne early warning and control platforms and standard-fit HM2s for force protection against submarines and other threats.

The other end of CEPP is littoral maneuver, carrying two companies of heliborne assault troops supported by CH-47 Chinooks, Merlin assault transports and AH-64 Apache and AgustaWestland Wildcat scout and attack helicopters. Between the two roles is “expeditionary strike” with F-35Bs and a Royal Marine commando....

...The end-state for the U.K.’s carrier force is to have one carrier available for the full CEPP spectrum at all times. Initial operational capability with F-35Bs on board is set for 2020. Full operational capability, with one carrier available for any CEPP mission at all times, and including Crowsnest and new F-35B weapons, is not expected until 2026....

...The carrier’s deck is currently ringed with tentlike shelters as workers apply heat-resistant coatings to catwalks and install heat shields over life rafts to protect them from the blast and heat from JSFs performing vertical landings. Booth says the carrier team is working on ways to apply heat-resistant nonskid coatings evenly to the entire deck, rather than just treating landing spots, which is not expected to be adequate for sustained operations.

Like the U.S. Navy, the U.K. carrier team did not anticipate the challenges posed by the F-35’s exhaust, which Lockheed Martin maintained through 2010 would be no hotter on the deck than that of the Harrier. [AND IN REALITY IT ISN'T - WTF? WHAT A NONSENSE CLAIM - BS is still ButtHurt from NON HEAT.] For the U.K., however, the problem was compounded because in 2010-12 the plan was to use the catapult-arrest F-35C. “That cost me two years of work on the heat issue,” Booth says.

The Prince of Wales is being assembled and should be floated out of its dock in 2017. Work is on or ahead of schedule, Booth says, and modules for the newer ship are being delivered with more systems installed than was the case for Queen Elizabeth.

Royal Navy sailors will begin training on the ship in May 2016, with sea trials due to be undertaken in August 2016. Acceptance should occur in May 2017, and the service hopes the first F-35Bs could be landing on the vast 4.5-acre flight deck, somewhere off the U.S. East Coast, toward the end of 2018."

Source: http://aviationweek.com/defense/us-mari ... operations

popcorn · by **popcorn** » 09 Oct 2015, 13:38

Spaz, IIRC the Brits have developed their own version of Thermion? Has the product been idenfified? I would assume it would offer superior resistance to abrasion and not the heat protection BS is peddling.

spazsinbad · by **spazsinbad** » 09 Oct 2015, 14:37

I'm a bit frazzled after midnight here however the thing about the heat has been done to death. It was overplayed early on by Sweetman and the sky is falling people because of one document from the USN about making concrete for pavements and hangars with an horrendous FAHRENHEIT number (something like 1,500) which was the number for afterburner I would assume and NOT the VL heat as has been pointed out later by another Navy document article report and various vague assertions by those in the know (which should have been produced from the getgo - but hey I do not run the US military - perhaps I should - NOT). These numbers are repeated along with articles quite a few times now on this forum.

Also the Brits may have been the originators of THERMION which perhaps was further developed in the US to become THERMION there. Anyway that info is on this forum also in the endless pages about this stuff. But I'll get the info - why - because it is in my PDFs that are freely available - to me anyways..... :mrgreen:

A Big Problem for me is that PDF pages come and go and with now over 11,000 such pages I can be hard pressed to remember which ones are there now or not. Meanwhile here is the info about the Brit Thermion Equivalent:

http://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2014/09/d ... able-f35b/

Earliest mention of 'Monitor Coatings' first - with most recent last - on this forum:

viewtopic.php?f=58&t=15969&p=277219&hilit=Monitor+Coatings#p277219
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viewtopic.php?f=58&t=15969&p=277235&hilit=Monitor+Coatings#p277235
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viewtopic.php?f=58&t=15969&p=279524&hilit=Monitor+Coatings#p279524
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viewtopic.php?f=61&t=27140&p=288097&hilit=Monitor+Coatings#p288097
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viewtopic.php?f=61&t=27140&p=288147&hilit=Monitor+Coatings#p288147

This is from AvWEAK own pages:

Shipshape Amphibious ship upgrades vital to JSF and MV-22 deployments
13 OCT 2014 Michael Fahey AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY; DEFENSE TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL

"...The F-35B creates 10-20 sec. of thermal input - 400-500F exhaust - during landings, [similar to the HAIRIER] Navy documents show, apparently requiring a 12 X 12-ft. steel plate 1-in. thick for specific primary landing spots to dissipate intense heat and prevent deck warping. There also is concern about “built-up thermal loading with multiple close-sequence landings.”…”

Source: OCTOBER 13, 2014 AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY

BillyBobBoySweetiePie pooh-poohed the fillum that demonstrates the 600 degree Fahrenheit heat spot during an F-35B simulation being 'old data/info'. Heheh - AS IF the designer of the LiftFan engine lecturing his peers would do such a thing eh. Go here for that clip. VIDEO: F-35B LiftFan Bevilaqua JSF Lecture 2010 Cool Concrete Sim

popcorn · by **popcorn** » 09 Oct 2015, 15:13

Thanks.

spazsinbad · by **spazsinbad** » 09 Oct 2015, 15:19

No worries. It does become confusing because of this alarmist language that becomes entrenched. OMG "intense heat" is a good 'un. WTF? This intense heat is only slightly hotter than the Feared&Revered Hairier - which is also much more difficult to land and all. :mrgreen:

A two page Monitor Coatings UK PDF attached now.

spazsinbad · by **spazsinbad** » 28 Oct 2015, 16:41

USMC and USN afterwards have complained about this same issue - which they will work upon diligently to fix no doubt.

CONOPS required for UK F-35 data collection
28 Oct 2015 Beth Stevenson

"Concepts of operation (CONOPS) need to be developed so the UK’s new Lockheed Martin F-35B Joint Strike Fighters can best exploit the large amount of data that it would collect, a Royal Navy (RN) representative has claimed.

There is a requirement for 48 F-35s for the UK, with 12 of these to be deployed on board the RN’s aircraft carriers, but unless the data collection is tailored to the needs of the service, it may be undervalued.

“There are lots of challenges with F-35, but mine is what we’re going to do with the product that comes down off it,” Brig David Evans, assistant chief of staff for information superiority for the RN, told the SMi Airborne ISR conference in London.

“One [issue] is the sheer volume of it. It is capable of picking up an incredible amount of data, so what are we going to do with that data? We need to develop the CONOPS of the aircraft itself and the data coming of it. There are still questions around how we exploit what F-35 has.”

Evans claims that the UK has a reasonable amount of time to develop these CONOPS, but it is concerning that it might not best exploit the terabytes of data collected after each mission...."

Source: https://www.flightglobal.com/news/artic ... on-418270/

spazsinbad · by **spazsinbad** » 20 Nov 2015, 01:15

RULING THE WAVES AGAIN... 4 page PDF of this artickle attached.
Dec 2015 Tim Ripley, Air Forces Monthly Magazine

"The Royal Navy’s new carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth is on track for completion next year. Tim Ripley reports....

... In September 2014, Prime Minister David Cameron marked a key decision in the carrier programme when he committed the Navy to standing up a “Continuous carrier capability”. The government had previously been unclear whether HMS Prince of Wales would enter service, leaving the Royal Navy taking ‘carrier strike capability holidays’ when HMS Queen Elizabeth had to go into dock for refit or repair. With both carriers in service one will always be ready to conduct operations with at least a squadron of F-35Bs embarked. The other ship could then be in refit, carrying out work-up training or employed as a commando carrier for the Royal Marines, with transport helicopters embarked.

The Royal Navy is making plans for a readiness cycle to synchronise this activity from the end of the decade, managing availability and ensuring fixed-wing and helicopter squadrons are ready to operate from the vessels. According to Rear Admiral Blount, the carriers will always sail within a maritime task group including warships and support vessels. This protects them and makes them self-sustaining far out to sea, without support from land-based assets. This is the classic embodiment of aircraft carriers, as mobile sovereign airfields that can be moved around the world unencumbered by the need to remain within range of land-based aircraft. He added: “The carriers will change the way the Royal Navy operates.”

The Navy is working on three main concepts of carrier operations to give future the UK a wide range of strategic options. They will be conducted nationally or in coalition operations. The first core mission, Carrier Strike is a classic power projection mission to launch offensive air operations against opponents with modern integrated air defence networks. This could combine air attacks in the opening hours of an air offensive using the F-35B’s ‘day-one’ stealth capability to knock down enemy air defences, with Raytheon BGM-109 Tomahawk Land Attack Missile strikes from Astute-class nuclear submarines or surface ships.

The carrier strike force mix could be ‘plug-and-play’, said RAdm Blount, including US Marine Corps F-35Bs operating from the new carriers; the Crowsnest airborne early warning system, fitted to Merlin maritime helicopters, will be an integral part of the capability. Meanwhile, Merlin HM2s would create an anti-submarine screen and perform surface surveillance around the maritime task group.

Next, the rear admiral discussed the Expeditionary Strike concept, involving the embarkation of a squadron of F-35Bs and Royal Marine Commandos, with transport helicopters to take the troops ashore. This force mix is intended to place a landing party ashore in the face of a determined enemy, the F-35Bs providing close air support. If a suitable airstrip were secured, the F-35Bs could disembark and continue to support the amphibious assault as it moves inland.

Littoral Manoeuvre is the third operational concept, envisaged as a mission in coastal waters against a lightly armed opponent, insurgents or pirates, or within a humanitarian mission. It combines a Royal Marines landing force with a full spectrum of helicopter support, including Chinook HC4/5/6 and Merlin HC4 transports to lift troops and their supplies ashore. The offensive element includes capabilities to find and strike land and sea targets, with Apache AH1 attack, Wildcat AH1 scout and Merlin HM2 maritime surveillance helicopters....

...During 2018 the process will move towards fixed-wing operations and Royal Navy officers see this as the real test of the validity of the release to service process. In mid-2018, HMS Queen Elizabeth is to set sail across the Atlantic to conduct F-35B integration trials off the US east coast. The joint US/UK F-35B Integrated Task Force has already carried out the initial stage of these tests at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, including live take-offs from a ski jump built at the edge of the airfield’s runway. US Navy carriers do not have ski jumps and the UK is funding and conducting this part of the programme itself.

There has been considerable controversy over whether the first F-35B to land on HMS Queen Elizabeth will be a British aircraft flown by a British pilot. The MOD has recognised the symbolic significance of the moment and a UK aircraft will undoubtedly line up to fly this symbolic mission, with a ‘Brit’ at the controls.

The later phases of F-35B integration trials, however, will be fully multinational, with US Marine Corps aircraft and pilots playing a full role since the UK’s first operational F-35B unit, the RAF’s 617 Squadron, will not be fully up and running. Once the famous ‘Dambusters’ have fully converted to the F-35B during 2018 and achieved Initial Operating Capability (Land) at RAF Marham, Norfolk, the unit will prepare for full operational trials in HMS Queen Elizabeth.

This phase of the carrier’s entry to service will take place in UK waters during 2019; it will involve mass take-offs and landings, live ordnance drops and onboard maintenance. This is considered the critical test of the carrier programme and will pave the way for the declaration of Initial Operating Capability (Sea) in 2020, when at least nine F-35Bs will be available to embark on HMS Queen Elizabeth. Full operating capability is targeted for 2022, when the Crowsnest system will be in use and the second UK F-35B unit, 809 Naval Air Squadron, will be fully established."

Source: Air Forces Monthly Magazine December 2015

spazsinbad · by **spazsinbad** » 05 Dec 2015, 04:52

An ersatz SLDinfo artickle and it has been nicely edited - praise the Lord and Pass the ammunition.... no moving text? :devil:

RAF Unleashed? Creating A Key European Strike Force
04 Dec 2015 Robbin Laird

"...Britian’s recent Strategic and Defense Review highlighted the importance of better RAF funding so it can modernize. Between the Daesh strikes and the review’s full funding for the F-35B and increased funding for Tornados the strategic holiday seems over in Britain,

In part the RAF is being better funded because of the obvious relevance of airpower to global threats; in part it is because the RAF created a sensible modernization template.

The RAF is undergoing two fighter aircraft transitions at the same time. On the one hand, the Tornado is being retired and the Typhoon is subsuming its missions. On the other hand, the F-35B is coming to the fleet and will be working with Typhoon.

These are three very different aircraft built in different periods of aviation history.

The venerable Tornado has seen a significant evolution over its time; from its initial use as an ultra low-level nuclear and unguided weapons bomber to an ISR-enabled precision strike and close support aircraft.

The Typhoon entered the RAF more than a decade ago as a classic air superiority fighter, but is now being asked to expand its effects and to subsume the Tornado missions.

The F-35B is entering the fleet as the Typhoon is making this transition.

This will mean that the RAF will be managing a double transition – Typhoon becoming multi-role and the F-35B operating off of land or ships to provide the fifth generation capability to the evolving RAF strike force.

The F-35B launched from the carriers is part of the picture; the very significant C2 capabilities aboard the ship are another. With the Queen Elizabeth carriers afloat, the RAF is looking to build synergy among the various land-based and carrier-based aircraft to generate combat effects.

As a Royal Navy officer put it: “The strike force could be commanded from the ship, from the ground or from the air. We are building flexible C2 in order to get maximum combat value from aircraft launched from the carrier.”

The F-35B as a flying combat system, capable of integrated air operations with every other F-35 flying in the combat area, is a significant foundation for shaping what the Queen Elizabeth will do in combat.

The reach of the F-35Bs coming off of the Queen Elizabeth will be expanded by the range of other F-35s and the data grid generated over the expanded battle space.

Leveraging what Typhoons will be able to do as they undergo their current weapons modernization program will enhance the strike effects of an integrated air-sea combat air force.

Projected forward in time, one can envisage how this might operate. The Queen Elizabeth is in the Eastern Mediterranean and its aircraft are integrated with other F-35Bs aboard US or Italian ships; the data and sensor coverage would be significant.

The Typhoons operating in Cyprus would have a forward controller and defense shield as well as with the F-35Bs target acquisition elements. The Typhoons could operate with “greater survivability and lethality,” as one RAF officer put it.

Fortune favors the prepared. Much as in the preparation for the Battle of Britain, the RAF is planning for tomorrow’s contingencies. Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding was the architect of the approach which led to the Luftwaffe’s defeat in the Battle of Britain. He is most remembered for his unwelcome task of telling Prime Minister Churchill that no more fighters should go to France to get destroyed in a losing cause; instead, they needed to be husbanded for the coming conflict, which would later be known as the Battle of Britain.

What Dowding understood, and the politicians did not, was that the con-ops shaped by design was crucial to mission success; and the fighters were the tip of the sword, not just silver bullets to be chewed up in fighter versus fighter battles.

Those fighters would be needed to kill bombers, primarily, and fighters, and they would operate from British soil and operate within a very clear strategic context, one which brought together elements of new technologies, and new concepts of operations which have not yet been tested in battle.

Perhaps by chance, perhaps by fate, the new commanding officer of RAF Lossiemouth, from which the Tornados and Typhoons launched to join their mates on Cyprus, is a Typhoon, Spitfire and Hurricane pilot [? must be RAF heritage flight?], who also has been a key officer in the F-35 transition. Fortune favors the prepared.

Source: http://breakingdefense.com/2015/12/raf- ... ike-force/