Two U.S. Air Force fighter pilots have co-authored a paper – published by the Mitchell Institute – on how to utilized the F-22 and F-35 to fight an air war in 2026.
By U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Jeremy T. Lock [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Maj. Gen. Jeff Harrigian and Col. Max Marosko detail in their paper on how the fifth generation aircraft can be utilized to defeat an enemy in a key region in 2026.
The first day of war saw squadrons of F-22s and F-35s rapidly deploy and disperse to numerous military and civilian airfields (up to 1,000 miles away) in order to thwart the enemy’s attempts to destroy them on the ground using a combination of ballistic and cruise missiles.
These airfields do not require any complicated air traffic control or navigation facilities as pilots of these aircraft can easily operate independently in all weather conditions by 2026.
The enemy’s attempts to disrupt commercial logistic support at civilian airfield are countered by linking up commercial and military distribution channels to ensure the aircraft are supplied with ample weapons, spare parts and fuel.
Legacy fighters play an important part as well, as they “provide critically important layered defense in depth for ongoing operations” and “increase a force’s ordnance capacity.” They will reply on the stealth fighters to “destroy or degrade enemy defenses to create a temporary or localized permissive (or semi-permissive) environment where (they) can operate with relative freedom of action.”
Maj. Gen. Jeff Harrigian currently directs the Air Force F-35A Integration Office and was the first commander of the F-22 Formal Training Unit.
Col. Max Marosko is the deputy director for air and cyberspace operations at Headquarters Pacific Air
Forces and a former F-22 squadron commander.