U.S. Struggles With Networking Issues, Including 5th to 4th Gen

While operational commanders try to target an elusive enemy from the air over Iraq and Syria, senior U.S. commanders and aerospace academics are wrestling with an associated question: how to take advantage of tremendous advances in information networking to prosecute modern air campaigns.

During the recent Air Force Association (AFA) conference, the shortcomings of current military air systems networking were explored in some frank comments during a panel session entitled “The Combat Cloud,” and in other discourse.

“As we speak, the Marines are running around the desert in Yuma, Arizona, desperately trying to figure out how to incorporate the F-35 into the Marine Air Ground Task Force [MAGTF],” said David Fahrenkrug, an author who has led work on the combat cloud at the Mitchell Institute for Airpower Studies.

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