There have been several successful proof-of-concept tests in the past. “In 2014, an F-35 infrared sensor installed on a surrogate aircraft successfully tracked a launch and transmitted tracking data over the military’s standard Link-16 network,” says an article at Breaking Defense.
“In 2016, an actual Marine Corps F-35B detected and tracked a missile, then passed the data over the Navy’s NIFC-CA network to the Aegis missile defense system, which shot the threat down.” Given the anticipated presence of thousands of F-35s supporting U.S. and allied forces in future theaters, linking their sensor and potential kinetic capabilities to the MDA kill chain seems a logical development.
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