F-35 Pilots Describe Aircraft, Weapons, Electronics & Computing

By Kris Osborn, President, Warrior

The F-35 is armed with a 25mm cannon, flies with a 5th-Generation stealth configuration, attacks with an entirely new generation of air-to-air and air-to-surface weapons, yet its most defining characteristic may ultimately lie in the often cited realm of “sensor fusion.”

This sensibility seemed to emerge as a consistent point of emphasis from an interview I did recently with three F-35 pilots. Lockheed Martin F-35 Test Pilot Chris “Worm” Spinelli, who spent 24 years in the Air Force, told me the aircraft is defined by “data integration.”

F-35 Data Integration

“For me, the biggest difference I’ve seen between flying the fourth-generation F-16, which is what I previously flew, and my few hours in the F-35 is its data integration and data management capabilities. It allows extreme situational awareness­–more than any other platform that we’ve generated, at least that I’ve flown,” Spinelli said.

The merits of such a technological process are certainly self-evident to be certain, yet “sensor fusion” also introduces interesting tactical dynamics which might easily be overlooked. The F-35’s turn pilots into “true tacticians.” Tony “Brick” Wilson, who now works for Lockheed Martin as the Chief of Fighter Flight Operations (F-35 Test Pilot), told me in an F-35 pilot interview special.