Last month four Italian F-35A Lightning II fighters, deployed from the Rivolto Air Base in the northeastern part of the country, conducted a series of training exercises. The F-35As, which were assigned to the XIII Group/32nd Airwing, took part in several daily sorties to reach the “Polygone” electronic shooting range in Germany near the French border.

As of this past May, Italy had taken delivery of fifteen F-35 aircraft including twelve F-35A jets and three F-35B jets. The final assembly of the Lockheed Martin aircraft took place at Italy’s own facility at the Cameri Air Base, which is also due to become the maintenance hub for the stealth fighter.

SEAD vs. DEAD Training 

During last month’s training exercises the F-35s took part in operations against simulated threats inside the Electric Warfare range. In addition, the fifth-generation fighter aircraft were able to train with SBAD (Surface-Based Air Defense) systems, which were based at Rivolto and operated by the 2nd Stormo (Special Operations Wing). 

The F-35s carried out multiple simulated SEAD (Suppression Enemy Air Defenses) and DEAD (Destruction Enemy Air Defense) sorties against the new SIRIUS missile system, which was recently assigned to the Italian Air Forces. While the Italian military didn’t release details of the sorties, the F-35 jets could likely do even better against air defense systems.

The Aviationist noted that there are substantial differences between SEAD and DEAD missions, where the latter aims to destroy an entire defense system. This can involve using a stand-off weapon to destroy the enemy system entirely.  

The Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jet could be well suited to such tasks, as it has the ability to locate and track enemy forces, jam radio frequencies and disrupt attacks from stand-off distances. However, the F-35 jet lacks the integration of a missile to accomplish a SEAD mission, a fact that the United States Air Force had acknowledged when it declared the F-35 jet operational back in 2016—it described the F-35’s SEAD/DEAD suite as able to perform such operations in what was described as a “limited” fashion. 

SEAD has been a central element of projecting military air power for more than fifty years. In 2005, a report to the Department of Defense (DoD) noted that it was of growing importance, but the emergence of new technologies and defenses could change U.S. SEAD efforts.

In June 2020, the Pentagon awarded Lockheed Martin a $26.7 million contract to improve the F-35 jet’s ability in SEAD/DEAD sorties, and the retrofitted design will be applied to all F-35 jets in Lots 14 and 15. It is scheduled to be completed in August 2022. Under the contract, Lockheed will perform the engineering necessary to modify the aircraft to perform “full up” SEAD and DEAD. This could also include structural modifications, which might include arming the jets with new munitions and/or sensors to carry out the role, which usually involves detecting, fixing, and attacking ground-based air defense threats, which can be mobile or stationary. 

The Italian training exercises indicated that the aircraft could certainly evolve into its role in SEAD/DEAD operations in the near future.

Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer who has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers and websites. He is the author of several books on military headgear including A Gallery of Military Headdress, which is available on Amazon.com. 

Image: Reuters