David J. Barton
Lockheed Martin has completed the latest test flight for the F-35 joint strike fighter in order to test Northrop Grumman‘s multifunction advanced data link waveform.
The MADL is part of an eight-year development effort to provide a high-data rate directional communications link for the fifth-generation aircraft, according to a Northrop statement.
Northrop Grumman Information Systems Defense Systems division vice president and general manager Mike Twyman said the test showed the data link works with the fifth generation fighter.
During the flight, two airborne platforms aboard two F-35s established the MADL link for the first time.
The data collected from the MADL and the F-35 sensors’ fusion system formed a “simplified situational awareness picture on the cockpit displays.”
