GETTING PEOPLE
EXCITED ABOUT THE F-
T
O MY MIND, the Dutch have
got it about right — and the
photo of a Royal Netherlands
Air Force (RNLAF) F-35A that
accompanies this spread
is a re ection of that. The
Lightning II can only wield its mighty
capabilities if taxpayers are willing
to fork out to buy it in the rst place.
The Dutch military is going out of its
way to prove that it is buying the right
ghter for the country’s needs.
When residents near Dutch ghter
bases voiced concerns that the F-
would be too noisy, the RNLAF ran
a comparison study in country to
look at current F-16 noise levels and
those of the future F-35. The exercise
apparently laid to rest any major
concerns. A jet was also own around
the country so that as many people as
possible could see it for themselves —
another nice touch.
This contrasts starkly with the
approach of many other edgling
F-35 operator nations, which have
chosen to shroud the ghter in a veil
of secrecy. We understand that many
of the F-35’s capabilities need to be
kept away from prying eyes, but this
shouldn’t stop air forces from being
able to illustrate the day-to-day
usefulness of the ghter. For example,the shot at right clearly dispels — in a
single hit — any misinformation that
the F-35 will never get ‘down in the
weeds’ for close air support.
The F-22 Raptor, for example,
su ered for years from a lack of public
understanding and a poor perception
of its capabilities, which arguably
played into the hands of politicians who
dramatically scaled back production.
Ultimately, journals such as this are
all about promoting air power. It’s what
we do. If positive public relations are
conducted safely and appropriately, then
let’s get people excited about air power,
not shut it away and invite skepticism
due to a ‘take our word for it’ approach.
To keep track of the latest breaking
news and analysis in the world of military
air power you can visit our social media
sites and our website:
http://www.combataircraft.net
You can also sign up for our free e-mail
newsletter by going to
http://www.combataircraft.net to register.Jamie Hunter,
Editor
E-mail: [email protected]CONTRIBUTOR OF
THE MONTHBABAK
TAGHVAEE
Babak began his career as an aviation
historian at the age of 11 and he wrote
his rst articles on Iranian commercial
and military aviation at 15. He has
authored three books on Iranian
aviation and hundreds of magazine
features on military aviation around
the world. He previously worked as
a private contractor on Iranian F-4Eand Mirage F1 upgrade programs
and today focuses on his career as
an aviation journalist. He has been
a contributor to Combat Aircraft
since 2010.04 February 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net
COMBAT EDGE // FIND US ON
4-5 Combat Edge C.indd 4 14/12/2017 11: