F-22 news thread

What is the Fifth Generation Aircraft All About? The View From The Cockpit
Discussing Fifth Generation Aircraft with the USMC Pilot of the F-22

In a recent discussion with Lieutenant-Colonel Berke who is based at Nellis AFB, the only USMC pilot of the F-22, the role of fifth generation fighters and how they are being used was discussed with Second Line of Defense.

Lieutenant-Colonel Berke has been an F-18 pilot, an F-16 pilot, a TOPGUN instructor and served as ground Forward Air Controller with the US Army for a year. He gained his Viper experience in an F-16A–flying aggressor tactics at TOPGUN; so you have a Marine Hornet Driver flying “foreign tactics” in a Navy training squadron in an AF Fighter. He is currently flying the Raptor and shaping tactics for the plane in its joint force role. He will become the second squadron commander at Eglin for the USMC version of the F-35.

SLD: Could you explain why a USMC pilot is flying the Raptor?

Lieutenant-Colonel Berke: The decision was made a few years ago to put joint pilots into the Raptor. The Navy did it in 2006 and the Marine Corps wanted to as well. For the USMC, the transition to the JSF is a critical issue. We can learn from the operational experiences of the Air Force F-22 transition. So an exchange billet with the Air Force at Nellis was created in the Operational Test squadron to give a Marine exposure to the process. The intent was to get someone into the fifth-gen world; to see what the Air Force has done with the F-22 for the last few years and thereby get some fifth-gen perspective. Then that pilot would hopefully be value-added to the Transition Task Force and the JSF team at Headquarters, Marine Corps. Also, it’s important to get some perspective on what the Air Force lessons learned have been with the introduction of the Raptor and to learn some of their roadblocks in moving from legacy to fifth gen. We (USMC) are the lead for the IOC for the JSF and have a lot to gain from that experience. I have been selected to Command our JSF Squadron, VMFAT-501 at Eglin AFB. I will replace the first Marine JSF Skipper who is there now.

SLD: Obviously there are two advantages to this. I mean first of all the one mentioned, which is to begin to understand what the fused sensor experience is all about and the whole capability of an aircraft is not really an F series but a flying combat system. And second you get operational experience working the fifth generation capability with legacy aircraft.

Lieutenant-Colonel Berke: I think you’re hitting the nail on the head with what the JSF is going to do, but it’s also what the Raptor mission have already morphed into. The concept of Raptor employment covers two basic concepts. You’ve got an anti-access/global strike mission; and you have the integration mission as well. And the bottom line is that integration mission is our bread and butter. When I say “us,” I’m talking about the Air Force and the F-22. Most of our expected operating environments are going to be integrated and success depends on how we play with other four-gen assets.

The joint operational role for the Raptor is significant. I’d say 80% of our funded testing since I’ve been here in the last two years in some way, shape, or form involves integration; whether it’s integration with other airplanes like F-18s, F-15s and 16s, or integration with Aegis. Maritime Interdiction Integration is a key element of what we’re doing. Virtually all of our tests are about how to make the airplane value-added to the conventional fleet, and that’s pretty much all we’ve done recently.

SLD: But let me just puzzle over something for a moment, which is the whole experience of flying an F/A-18 and shifting to an F-22. Just what’s that whole experience for you?

Lieutenant-Colonel Berke: 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 three years. I was dual operational in the Hornet and the Viper when I was a TOPGUN instructor. I am now coming up on three years flying Raptors. I was also on carriers for four 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. I actually was with the Army for a year as FAC in Iraq as well. So from a tactical level, I’ve got a lot of tactical operator experience with all three services – Navy, Army, and the Air Force. 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.

But 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 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.

SLD: When you’re in a classic tactical aircraft, basically somebody else is doing the battle management in an AWACS or CAOC or somewhere. With this aircraft, with the F-22 and certainly the F-35, you’re really moving from a classic air battle management approach and that’s got to be a whole different experience and require a different kind of training.

Lieutenant-Colonel Berke:It absolutely is. The irony is that when you talk about distributed battle management it is based on how the F-22 and F-35 provide for situational awareness. With an F-18 or F-16, you have federated sensor systems; the information is stovepiped and the pilot must fuse the information in his own mind.

You basically receive a lot of data and you’re trying to shape that data into usable information. In the Raptor, the data is already fused into information thereby providing the situational awareness (SA). SA is extremely high in the F-22 and obviously will be in the JSF; and it’s very easy for the pilot to process the SA.

Indeed, the processing of data is the key to having high SA and the key to making smart decisions. There’s virtually no data in the F-22 that you have to process; it’s almost all information. There’s a small amount, but it is presented to you clearly and it takes very little effort to process what’s going on. The fused data is so easy to absorb and it’s so easy to use. A huge amount of brain cells, a huge amount of pilot effort is necessary to do that in the Hornet. You just don’t have to do it anymore in the Raptor and the JSF. Ironically, that takes some getting used to. The SA in a fused cockpit is so incredible that it takes time to adjust from a legacy mindset, but once you do, the payback is exponential. The best SA I ever had in the Hornet pales in comparison to what the JSF will do for me.

SLD: And what is the impact of being able to share that fused data with other assets?

Lieutenant-Colonel Berke:The impacts of sharing data will be profound with JSF using MADL (Multifunctional Advanced Data Link) as a gateway; currently the Raptor requires an offboard gateway, but will eventually get MADL as well. As a matter of fact, we just completed a test on IFDL (Intra-flight Data Link) distribution through to BACN (Battlefield Airborne Communications Nodes) to get Raptor data into Marine F-18’s with great success.

The F-22, especially when we get that data off board, gives tremendous SA to legacy assets. Eventually when we can pipe the data either through a gateway or when we get MADL, those methodologies once they’re resolved will make the aircraft a fused sensor for 4th gen fighters. Or put in other words, the beauty of the F-22 is it’s basically a big flying sensor providing info to our integrated assets.

And the way we perceive our role as a big flying sensor allows us to be a facilitator for another force to execute their mission more effectively, more efficiently and with less risk. We quantify everything with the metrics of survivability and lethality. Obviously the goal is simply to increase survivability and increase lethality, so we want to be more deadly while take less risk doing it.

SLD: Could you discuss further the interaction between the Raptor and the legacy aircraft?

Lieutenant-Colonel Berke: The Raptor can facilitate the Hornet’s mission whether it’s by providing SA, meaning giving him sensor pictures that shows him where the highest threats may be. Or by injecting a kinetic attack to let that Hornet pilot to get to a release point without having to deal with a particular threat. I can make the Hornet more survivable. I can facilitate him getting to a point where he optimizes his sensor footprint or optimizes his kinetic release and I can increase his survivability by handling a particular threat.

http://www.sldinfo.com/?p=11395

can someone please elaborate on this 5th generation way of thinking.