The F-35 is well known for its fleet wide, secure Multifunction Advanced Datalink (MADL) connecting many of the 5th-generation stealth fighters together in seamless fashion, something which widens the mission envelope for F-35 formations, enables the real-time sharing of targeting data and brings the ability to transmit voice, video and data between aircraft in warfare operations.
Given this, MADL is considered essential for the growing multinational focus of the F-35, as it gives NATO and other allied countries with the jet an opportunity to conduct synchronized operations and explore previously unprecedented missions.
F-35 MADL – Destroying Enemy Targets
MADL, when operated in conjunction with other F-35 sensors, can achieve the much sought after goal of sharing threat data and helping the jet find and destroy enemy targets from ranges where it remains undetected. This ability, shown in several wargames in recent years, is something F-35 pilots point to as a defining reason for its superiority.
“Having sensor fusion and MADL (Multifunction Advanced Datalink), all of those potential dogfighting engagements can be avoided before we ever even get within visual range, let alone actually have to dogfight in the air, whatever the opponent is.
The tactical scenario, more often than not, is going to be solved much further out, which is going to give us the advantage,” Monessa “Siren” Balzhiser, F-35 Production and Training Pilot, Lockheed Martin, told The National Interest in a pilot interview special.
MADL: F-22s & Fourth Generation Aircraft
Expanding this operational thinking to the next level, it is not surprising that the Air Force and other F-35 operating services such as the Navy and Marine Corps have in recent years been working on additional communications technologies for the F-35 to bring a MADL-like ability across the entire force to include F-22s and fourth generation aircraft.
“It’s not just fighting against fourth-generation threats where the F-35 stands out, but also integrating with other US military platforms and other NATO platforms to meet a strategic objective,” Balzhiser said.
