By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization
(Fort Worth, Texas) Before rolling into a special climate-controlled hangar to be painted “grey,” F-35s are assembled piece by piece inside a mile-long “mini-city” production facility with progressive stations stretching across a vast collection of work stations.
Engine integration, computing, avionics, software, weapons, advanced sensing and critical “cooling” technologies are all integrated in increments across the production line, where large and small parts and components of the stealth fighter are woven together into a completed airframe.
While the “building” of the aircraft may seem both self-evident and clear in purpose, there is a lingering mystery and a somewhat ineffable or less-palpable air of “pride” and “patriotism” filling the vast warehouse because, for a number of often lesser-known reasons, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is exploding across Europe and throughout the world. What began as nine (and now 8) initial partner nations years ago has more than doubled. There are at least 18 F-35 partner nations now, including both original members and Foreign Military Sales customers.
“Here is one mile of F-35s being built. The program has been very successful with the original countries and countries we have coming on board. The first countries are now part of an F-35 Executive Steering Board and they are joined by Foreign Military Sales customers who benefit from the program and pricing,” JR McDonald, Vice President, F-35 International Sales, Lockheed Martin, told Warrior in an interview on the production line.
In just the last several years, Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Finland and Czech Republic are all now joining the F-35 community of nations, and McDonald told Warrior that there will be as many as 600 F-35s throughout the European continent by 2030.
The tactical, strategic and operational merits of this ability to “mass” networked F-35s across the entire continent seem extensive, something F-35 proponents and advocates describe as limitless. The F-35 is of course already a stealthy multi-role fighter with advanced avionics, computing, software and weapons, yet its operational scope has expanded considerably in recent years. One of the reasons for this relates to the successful use of technical interfaces, gateways and other technologies designed to enable interoperability. All F-35s from all countries, for example, operate with a secure, high-bandwidth datalink known as Multifunction Advanced Data Link (MADL).
F-35 Drone-Like Sensing
The F-35 has now functioned as a sensor “gateway” or “node” performing missile defense and targeting missions within a joint operational theater, the aircraft can now network with and even operate nearby “loyal wingman” drones and unmanned systems from the cockpit and it is progressively expanding the sphere of multi-domain nodes and platforms it can exchange information with. One of the most recent areas of expansion is an emerging ability for an F-35 to successfully network with a US Navy Aegis Combat System on a surface warship.
“The sky’s the limit of how much information we are able to share with different elements. We are now in an experimentation phase exchanging information with an Aegis Cruiser and other assets out there. The F-35 can share a lot of targeting and sensing data. An F-35 takes information not just from its own sensors but from other nodes – takes a common picture of what is around them,” McDonald said. “Now we are waiting for the policy to catch up with technology.”
Expanded F-35 Operations
There are many specific instances through which the F-35 has expanded its concept of operation in recent years spanning across all the military services. The Army’s Integrated Battle Command System, a fast-emerging, elaborate missile defense radar and fire control network, has expanded into the aerial domain and “networked” with an F-35 in position to detect missile threats from different angles and altitudes of great value to the missile defense system. The now operational IBCS began as a series of ground based radar and fire-control nodes connecting technologies such as a Sentinel radar and Patriot Missile system engineered to seamlessly share real-time threat information from dispersed locations across a theater of operations. In recent years, IBCS has added aerial F-35s to its multi-domain system of integrated missile defense sensor and interceptor system. This integration is also now extending to the sea, as McDonald said, given that an F-35 and the IBCS systems are being engineered to network with surface-ship based Aegis Combat Systems.
F-35 to Stop Anti-Ship Missiles
The F-35 has also for years been shown to operate successfully as an aerial “gateway” within the Navy’s now-deployed Naval Integrated Fire Control – Counter Air system. This collection of technologies, now operational on US Navy destroyers, integrates ship-based command and control, radar, sensing and targeting with an aerial gateway capable of “seeing,” “sensing,” and identifying incoming anti-ship missiles and other threats from beyond the radar horizon available to US Navy surface ships. Operating with long-range, high resolution sensors from an advantageous position in the sky, the F-35 has shown it can detect approaching threats from well-beyond the existing radar aperture or field of regard available to surface ships. Therefore, functioning as a relay node, the F-35 can send target and threat specifics to surface ships well in advance of what might otherwise be possible, giving ship commanders a more optimal time window through which to counterattack, defend against, jam or “intercept” incoming threats. This is critical, as the NIFC-CA system also integrates ship-launched SM-6 interceptors in position to fire from deck-placed Vertical Launch Systems to intercept and “destroy” threats at much greater stand-off distances. Certainly the F-35 could be positioned to use some of its own air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons to destroy an anti-ship missile, yet within NIFC-CA the aircraft also functions as a beyond the horizon “sensor.”
The F-35 is also maturing in the realm of manned-unmanned teaming, as it is fast-approaching a day when it can control the flight trajectory and sensor payload of nearby “loyal wingman” drones from the cockpit. Sure enough, in experiments in recent years beginning with the Air Force Research Laboratory, the F-35 has already shown it can exchange data in real-time with the services Valkyrie drone to create an integrated manned-unmanned network of combat nodes. This is quite significant, as it is expected to further evolve to a point wherein a single F-35 can operate a small group of drones from the cockpit of the aircraft. The tactical advantages of this seem somewhat immeasurable, as an F-35 could send forward operating drones to test enemy air defenses, blanket high-value areas with ISR, “jam” enemy weapons systems and even launch attacks when directed by a human. This concept is showing great promise in terms of future operations, and US Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has made manned-unmanned teaming or manned-fighter-drone connectivity one of the service’s seven operational imperatives. The service refers to this in terms of Combat Collaborative Aircraft, now emerging drones of relevance to both the F-35 and emerging Next Generation Air Dominance 6th-generation fighter.
F-35 Hypersonics & Lasers
Current F-35 hardware upgrades such as what Lockheed calls a “tech refresh” 3 are now integrating a new suite of systems within the aircraft to set the foundation for an upcoming Block 4 software upgrade. Tech Refresh 3, McDonald explained.
“We are in the missile of the largest modernization of any fighter called Tech Refresh 3. This includes new integrated core processor computer, panoramic displays, graphics generators and memory so its ready to take Block 4,” McDonald said.
Software increments or blocks, fundamental for the F-35 for more than a decade now, are now becoming more continuous or iterative as they can massively expand the weapons envelope and overall operational capacity of the aircraft. For instance, software modifications have now enabled the F-35 to fly with the next-generation “Stormbreaker” air-dropped bomb capable of using its tri-mode seeker (millimeter wave, infrared, laser) to track and destroy enemy targets in all weather conditions out to ranges of 40 nautical miles. Software upgrades have progressively throughout the years enabled the F-35 to expand its weapons envelope, and in the next few years the stealth aircraft will likely fire lasers and hypersonic weapons.
“We’ve shown that with external carriage that a large hypersonic weapon could fit on an F-35 should the government wish to go that way,” McDonald said.
F-35-fired lasers are not far away either, as the AFRL has for years been conducting weapons development and ground tests of aircraft-fired lasers as part of a fast-tracked effort to arm fighter jets with lasers. The challenge with lasers on fighter jets is finding ways to create sufficient mobile power in a small enough form factor to support jet-fired lasers. Developers expect to begin this process with a larger aircraft such as a C-130 Cargo plane with the hope of migrating expeditionary power technology capable of supporting laser weapons on fighter jets. Once lasers are operational on an F-35, something to be assisted if not fully enabled by new software, the aircraft can incinerate air, surface or ground enemy targets at the speed of light with a low-cost, scalable, quiet attack weapon. Some weapons developers have even posited that a laser-armed F-35 could destroy enemy missiles and even ICBMs during the boost phase just after take-off.
On the Flight Line With an F-35 Pilot
F-35 Multi-National Challenges
Naturally, while these F-35 advances present unparalleled opportunities for joint, multinational operations, they also present significant challenges for Lockheed developers and member nation militaries to move as quickly as possible to strengthen an integrated F-35 force.
One such challenge relates to what McDonald described as “interchangeability,” a term referring to a critical ability for F-35s from different member nations to provide sustainment and logistical support to one another across dispersed geographical areas.
“By 2030 there will be more than 600 F-35s in Europe, and interchangeability is the ability to work together from a logistics standpoint. For example, if a German aircraft lands in Denmark, it should be able to refuel and re-arm and go out the door,” McDonald explained. “This will take policy agreements but that is what we are working toward. “ This will take policy agreements but that is what we are working toward,” McDonald told Warrior.
Common Mission Data Files
The F-35 is famous for its often-discussed Mission Data Files, an advanced computer threat library which bounces new incoming sensor data off of an extensive, specific threat-data base. Should a sensor encounter a Chinese J-20 for example, or a Russian Su-57, the aircraft’s onboard computer will instantly be able to identify and “verify” the target for pilots in need of launching a rapid attack. The US Air Force consistently updates and upgrades the threat library, much of which is specific to geographical threat areas around different theaters of operation.
“The Mission data files are the library in the aircraft, populated by each country with information they have received over the years. We want all of the aircraft in any theater to be working within a common data file,” JR McDonald, Vice President, F-35 International Sales, Lockheed Martin, told Warrior in an interview on the F-35 production line in Fort Worth, Texas.
Inside the F-35 Factory
Now, while each F-35 has its own threat library or Mission Data Files, each F-35 member country operates with a specific version of its own “national” threat library compilation. With data bases from F-35 libraries slightly different, pilots from different member-countries could struggle to verify targets and pass precise threat information in some cases as they may not operate from the same database. For this reason, weapons developers, political leaders and military leaders are working diligently to craft a single “common data base” for all F-35 member nation’s to use, according to experts familiar with the process.
This new common data base will incorporate precise, accurate and common information for all F-35 fighters, something which better enables target-sharing, collaborative attack and in-flight intelligence gathering. Each countries respective Mission Data Files are slightly different and tailored to each countries individual “threat-determined” needs. While much of the information is of course common, a single collective, unified “common data file” is necessary for all F-35 member nations to operate with. These efforts are underway, and weapons developers explain the technology has matured to the point wherein a single, common threat library for all F-35s can be created and integrated into member-country aircraft. However, despite the technological possibilities, existing policy determinations between F-35 member nations need to catch up with the progress of the technology to enable rapid implementation of a common system. The common system will of course incorporate some elements from all countries, as it will not be identical to each countries’ individual library. One single Common Data File will be engineered with advanced computing and distributed across the multinational F-35 force.
” It’s (Common Data Files) going to take time and some agreements between countries before we can put together a single common Mission Data File, but we are seeing experimentation and there was an exercise up in the Arctic, so we know we are heading in that direction,” JR McDonald said.
As is the case with most Mission Data Files updates and upgrades, the Common Data Files will likely require software upgrades and computer system adjustments. With the large number of countries now joining the family of F-35 nations in recent years, there would appear to be a significant tactical advantage associated with having a NATO-wide Common Data Files.
Kris Osborn is President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
Kris Osborn is President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia Univers
ity.
