F-35 To F-22: Can We Talk? Finally, The Answer Is Yes

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F-35 To F-22: Can We Talk? Finally, The Answer Is Yes « Breaking Defense - Defense industry news, analysis and commentary: 

Next month, the Air Force will start rapid-fire field tests of new network tech, including a long-delayed secure datalink between its two stealth fighters.

WASHINGTON: Starting in December, the Air Force will try new network technology in real-world experiments every four months, the service’s new chief architect said today. The initial experiment next month will take three small but crucial steps towards the military’s goal of a comprehensive Multi-Domain Command & Control network linking all four services across all five domains, land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace:

• New ways to share data between aircraft and ground forces (this one is tentative);
• A cloud-based common operational picture that tracks where friendly forces are and displays a map of their constantly updated positions;
• The highest-profile piece, a communications link that finally allows F-35 and F-22 stealth fighters to share data without giving away their position.

“I Iike the F-22/F-35 [experiment], because it’s a problem that everybody recognizes and everybody says, ‘oh, it’s really hard to do,” Preston Dunlap told me after discussing the effort at the Defense One conference here. ”I want to prove we actually can do hard things.”.........read rest of article

"F-22s use a unique Intra-Flight Data Link (IFDL) that works only with other F-22s, while the newer F-35s use the Multifunction Advanced Data Link (MADL), which can only talk to other F-35s."

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