Forum: General F-35 Forum

http://www.ndu.edu/press/the-f-35.html

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Interesting article. Thanks for the link!

A good piece consolidating and tying together multiple articles featured on Second Line of Defense. Thanks for posting.

Some good 'operational pilot' quotes in that article that lead me to believe that USAF pilots will be flying more like USN pilots as desribed here: [Here is just for fun: http://tailhook.org/USN%20USAF.html ]

Navy And Air Force Pilots Don't Come From The Same Mold Two Different Philosophies

http://www.squidoo.com/NavyFighterPilot

"Navy Pilots and Air Force Pilots are quite different. They are the products of very different histories, philosophies, and traditions....

...While at sea, you will frequently be far from command centers or supply lines, and you must ensure mission accomplishment with only what is at hand. You will discover that at times you will be required to do much with little.

In your pursuit of mission accomplishment, you will be required to make many command decisions, which will exercise your ability to be assertive, flexible, and creative. You will relish your independent authority. The fact that the higher command structure encourages and even expects this decision-making process elevates confidence and capability within the Navy.

The Air Force is quite different. The Air Force will train you to be the best fighter pilot in the world also, but the similarities between Navy and Air Force end there. The Air Force philosophy is to give you a "Cook Book." It's a manual describing exactly how they want you to fight the enemy. You may not deviate from the cook book under any circumstances. You will be sent out to fight the enemy the way the Air Force wants you to fight. You must always reference the cook book to make sure you are allowed to do something. If you can't find it in the cook book, then you aren't allowed to do it.

The two different philosophies of the Navy and Air Force didn't occur by accident. The Navy has always operated independently...."

Having been initially trained by the RAAF and then operationaly trained by the RAN FAA I have seen the differences between those services somewhat similar to those differences described in the article mentioned. And having heard USN exchange pilots describe their experiences and opinions of USAF ops (now a long time ago of course) there seems to be a corollary. But I don't hold fast to these very fluid opinions just point to them because of the words of pilots in the SLD article such as:

"...An excellent insight into the role of the F-22 in anticipating the F-35 was provided by a Marine Corps F-22 pilot. Lieutenant Colonel Dave Berke is becoming a key F-35 squadron commander....

...It’s a major evolution. There’s no question about it. My career has been in F-18s, but I also flew F-16s for 3 years. I was dual operational in the Hornet and the Viper when I was a TOPGUN instructor. I am now coming up on 3 years flying Raptors. I was also on carriers for 4 years, so I’ve done a lot of integration with the Navy and a lot of integration with the Air Force. Three years flying with the Air Force has been pretty broadening.

For me, it’s a great experience to see the similarities and difference between the Services. Navy and Marine aviation is very similar. USAF aviation is very different in some ways....

...This has been really illuminating for me having the experience with all of the Services in tactical operations. Obviously I will draw upon that experience when I fully engage with the JSF. But flying a Raptor, the left, right, up, down, is just flying; flying is flying. So getting in an airplane and flying around really is not that cosmic no matter what type of airplane you’re sitting in.

t the difference between a Hornet or a Viper and the Raptor isn’t just the way you turn or which way you move the jet or what is the best way to attack a particular problem. The difference is how you think. You work totally differently to garner situational awareness [SA] and make decisions; it’s all different in the F-22. With the F-22 and certainly it will be the case with the F-35, you’re operating at a level where you perform several functions of classic air battle management and that’s a whole different experience and a different kind of training. . . ....

...So tactical decisions have always had operational strategic and national impact. The difference is that organizationally, we’ll be forced to reconcile that notion, and understand that the individual who’s charged with those tactical decisions will now have the kind of information that was previously only available nearly fused but far more imperfectly fused in the CAOC. That information will now be distributed in the battlespace.

So that speaks to an entirely different not just physical architecture, also personnel architecture, but more importantly leadership paradigm and approach to solving a problem. You now are far more able to remove fat layers of intermediate data processing and you’re able to sic a force of very capable assets on an objective...."
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Goes on with more pilot stuff in this section: Operating on the Z-axis: Shaping a New Pilot Culture

I don't want to quote the entire article however read the pilot words above and from there on in original article. Interesting times for pilot training/selection.

Forum: General F-35 Forum

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