2014-07-02 Two F-35B aircraft flew in close formation for the first time in short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) mode, also known as Mode 4, on Feb. 11, 2014, at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station.
Recently, we talked to instructors at MAWTS about their work with the F-35 at Yuma Air Station.
According to MAWTS, the 121 squadron has been participating in the exercises run for the Weapons and Tactics Instruction Course (WTI) courses , which are done for training and tactics development.
MAWTS does two a year.
In these courses, air is working within the MAGTF approach and Marine ground forces participate in the WTI courses as well.
In the Fall of 2013, 121 participated in three WTI events and in the last course during the Spring of 2014, 121 participated in six events. To date the F-35Bs in the WTI events have performed SCAR (strike coordination and reconnaissance), escort and area defense missions.
The current planes are operating with Block 2A software and the Block 2B software arrives later this year for the preparation for the IOC in 2015. What this means is that the plane operating today with MAWTS is more limited than what will come later in the year. While Block 2B is largely a software upgrade, there are some planned hardware mods as well.
The F-35 is operating with other Marine Corps air as the blue team against red aggressors in various exercises.
This means that already the Marines are working the question of 5th generation aircraft working with 4th generation to shape tactics and training for more effective air operations.
![In this photo, the 8 planes involved in the training are shown. All the plane captains [crew chiefs] are seen standing by their jets. The pilots are in the cockpits. The jets are running. Credit Photo: by Lt Col Gillette, F-35B IP and executive officer at the VMFAT-501](https://sldinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/8_Ship_Post_Flight-300x168.jpg)
As one of the MAWTS instructors put it:
We are able to employ the F-35 as a kind of information manger using its combat systems to be able to employ the air ordinance carried by the other airplanes which allows us to conserve our ordinance on the F-35 until we actually need to use it.
This has already led to interesting results when doing things like the defense of Yuma exercise where the F-18s were enabled to do things they can not normally do against incoming USAF aircraft as the Red Force.
In this WTI event – Anti-Air Warfare 2 – the F-35 participated with 4th generation fighters from MAWTS against a Red Force, which included F-15s and F-16s. Because of the F-35’s combat systems, the participating 4th generation fighters were significantly more effective. Right now, the F-35 can be used to generate sensor data, which enhances the capability of the 4th generation fleet, limited by the current need to pass that data via voice means; and the F-35s ability to operate more freely in the battlespace than can 4th generation aircraft.
And in a discussion with the CG for 2nd Marine Air Wing, and a former CO of MAWTS, BG Hedeland underscored the importance he saw to the MAWTS-Squadron role out of the F-35.
The natural attraction between an organization that really does have –the plane and MAWTS-1, which owns the standards piece, is the natural focus on integration.
The ADT&E Division within MAWTS-1 will be hungry for operational capability of the JSF.
The F-35 out there is a natural magnetism between those in 121 that want to kill the enemy sooner and those at MAWTS-1 who want to shape the standards for doing it.
It’s not happenstance that the CO of 121 right now is a former MAWTS-1 instructor that, that worked for me when I was the CO out there.
Lt. Col. Gillette was in the F-18 Division when I was the CO out there.
If his guys think that they can live a day without dealing with the guys with the chicken patch on (MAWTS), they’re going to be out of their minds.
Their relationship is absolutely vital, vital to getting as much out of that squadron as we can both before they deploy but, but once they do deploy.
Credit Video: Lockheed Martin