The USS America has arrived at its home port in San Diego. The ship is designed to enable the USMC as the only tiltrotar enabled assault force in the world. And preparing the ground for the introduction of the F-35B as the integrated C2, ISR, strike asset and enabler.
Lou Kratz looks at the potential impact of shaping a globally integrated F-35 fleet.
Sustainable reach is a fundamental operational objective. This means that lift and tanking assets are much more than support assets, they are part of the overall sustainable assault force. A virtual global fleet of Airbus tankers is emerging based on this need.
We continue our look at the roll out of the F-35 maintenance approach with an interview with an maintainer from VMFA-121. This squadron is the first F-35 to maintain the aircraft organically.
The importance of the integration of the crew with the aircraft to deliver the results needed in a difficult operational theater such as Afghanistan was highlighted in this interview with two Marine core crewmembers.
The entire Harvest Hawk experience highlights the utility of a mother ship in an air dominance environment. There is no reason that we cannot take data from UAVs or the F-35s or the Harrier litening pods and be able to contribute to combat management or support to the ground commanders.
The KC-130J not only has broadened its range of mission sets, but has provided a foundational capability for expeditionary support. It is about supportable reach; not just reach.
The USMC and USAF along with foreign air forces are the triad will drive the forging of a global system to support the F-35.
