US Air Force Prepares For ‘Ultimate Clash’ With China’s J-20 Stealth Fighters; USAF Gets 1st Fifth-Gen Aggressor Pilot
By: Tanmay Kadam
The Commander of the USAF’s Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center (AFOTEC), Brig. Gen. Trey “Lou” Rawls has become the first general officer to be certified as a fifth-generation aggressor pilot on the F-35A Lightning II aircraft with the 65th AGRS. “I’m incredibly thankful for the opportunity to fly with the 65th Aggressors,” said Rawls. The USAF’s aggressors were established as a consequence of the service’s Project Red Baron study, which assessed the air war over North Vietnam to determine why there had been such a dramatic change in the outcome of air-to-air engagements in the conflict. In the Korean War, USAF pilots had achieved a 10:1 kill ratio over North Korean and Chinese adversaries, whereas, during the conflict in Vietnam, the kill ratio dropped to 2.5:1. The 65th AGRS was reactivated in June last year with the mission to know, teach and replicate fifth-generation air adversaries at Nellis AFB. Before that, the squadron was active from 2005 to 2014, and during that time, it replicated the tactics and techniques of potential adversaries with a fleet of F-15 Eagles.
US Pilots Prepare To Meet J-20 Threaat
Interestingly, shortly before activation of the 65th AGRS, US Pacific Air Force Commander General Kenneth Wilsbach revealed that the J-20 of the PLA Air Force (PLAAF) and the F-35 of the USAF had their first-ever ‘encounter.’ “It’s a bit early to say what they intend to do with the J-20, so really, all we’ve seen it do is air superiority. But we notice that they are flying it pretty well. We recently had – I wouldn’t call it an engagement – where we got relatively close to the J-20s and our F-35s in the East China Sea. We’re relatively impressed with the command and control associated with the J-20,” General Wilsbach said in March 2022. Therefore, using the F-35 as an aggressor platform will allow the USAF pilots to train against low-observable threats like the Chinese J-20 or the Russian Su-57. “Due to the growing threat posed by PRC [People’s Republic of China] fifth- and sixth-gen fighter development, we must use a portion of our daily fifth-generation aircraft today at Langley, Elmendorf, Hill, Eielson, and now Nellis to replicate adversary fifth-generation capabilities,” said Gen. Mark Kelly, commander Air Combat Command, during the reactivation of the 65th AGRS. “Precisely because we have this credible threat, when we replicate a fifth-gen adversary, it must be done professionally. That’s the aggressors.” The F-35 offers an adversary air platform that enables the 65th AGRS to customize the jet to replicate the desired red air aircraft through mission planning software. The 65th AGRS determines these settings with the help of the intelligence community.
As the AFOTEC Commander, it is Rawls’ responsibility to ensure independent testing and evaluation of new and existing systems for the USAF. Therefore, Rawls flying with the 65th AGRS is expected to provide a unique opportunity to determine how an Operational Test Agency can contribute to improving warfighter training. “We must ensure we’re keeping up with and surpassing our adversaries,” said Rawls. Rawls further explained that in his role as an aggressor, he would present the USAF airmen with the types of challenging problems they are likely to face from the adversaries and provide material solutions and capabilities to address those problems. “The challenge is that we’re no longer the only big kid on the block regarding technology,” said Rawls. “However, we’re still king of the hill when it comes to training, readiness, and talent. AFOTEC has an important role in ensuring the US remains the world’s most dominant purveyor of air power. We do this by ensuring we only focus on problems that need solving and then relentlessly pursuing those solutions that enable us to continue to enjoy an unfair advantage,” he added.
US Navy To Increase Its Aggressor Capabilities With The Help Of USAF
The Russian aggression in Ukraine and the looming Chinese threat have worried the US military about conventional threats from near-peer adversaries. Therefore, like the USAF, even the US Navy is trying to increase its aggressor capabilities, however, the service has turned to the USAF due to budget constraints. As part of that, the F-16s retired by the USAF are replacing the F-5N Tiger 2s belonging to Fleet Composite Squadron (VFC) 13 “Fighting Saints” at US Naval Air Station Fallon in Nevada, which is the Navy’s Reserve Force Squadron that specializes in replicating adversary threats or ‘red air’ in support of the US Naval Aviation Warfighting Development Center (NAWDC).
https://eurasiantimes.com/us-f-35-to-train-against-chinas-j-20-stealth-fighters-usaf-gets/