F-35A i avansert Forward Air Controller rolle - Tyler Rogoway

U.S. Army ground artillery units recently conducted a test in which they destroyed a mock air defense system based on targeting information from a U.S. Air Force F-35A Joint Strike Fighter. The tactic allowed the joint force to destroy a mock threat while allowing the F-35 to remain in its most stealthy mode and not reveal itself by engaging it directly. This is a concept of operations that could be extremely valuable for U.S. forces in a future large-scale conflict against an opponent with dense integrated air defense network and one that could easily expand to include other assets, including unmanned aircraft and new, longer-range artillery and tactical missile systems.

This particular scenario was part of a larger Joint Strike Fighter Integration experiment that took place at one of the Doña Ana Ranges in New Mexico, which are part of the Fort Bliss Training Center that is headquartered in neighboring Texas. M109A6 Paladin self-propelled 155mm howitzers from the Army's 1st Armored Division Artillery and an F-35A from the Air Force's 59th Test and Evaluation Squadron took part in the test, along with a host of supporting units. As F-35s have entered operational service across the U.S. Marine Corps, Air Force, and Navy, the U.S. military as a whole has been exploring a variety of new concepts of operation for integrating the stealth jets into regular operations.