{"id":15847,"date":"2017-08-23T19:25:59","date_gmt":"2017-08-23T19:25:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2017\/08\/23\/northrops-fix-for-f-35-and-f-22-communications-problems-involves-global-hawk-uavs\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:31:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:31:51","slug":"northrops-fix-for-f-35-and-f-22-communications-problems-involves-global-hawk-uavs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2017\/08\/23\/northrops-fix-for-f-35-and-f-22-communications-problems-involves-global-hawk-uavs\/","title":{"rendered":"Northrop\u2019s fix for F-35 and F-22 communications problem involves Global Hawk drones"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Northrop Grumman has a pitch to solve communications problems between the F-35 and F-22: Put a new radio on a Global Hawk drone and have it act like a translator between the two assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. Air Force\u2019s two most advanced fighter jets, the F-35 and F-22, cannot currently transmit and receive information between each other because both use different secure data links: the Multifunction Advanced Data Link, or MADL, on the F-35; and the Intra-Flight Data Link, or IFDL, on the F-22. Both MADL and IFDL allow for stealthy communication that has a low probability of detection, but that information cannot be transferred to aircraft using different waveforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Northrop\u2019s proposed fix involves integrating its Freedom 550 radio aboard the RQ-4 Global Hawk UAV \u2014 which is already used as a communications node in the Middle East and elsewhere \u2014 thus providing a near-term way to allow both jets to talk to each other, said Mike Lyons, the company\u2019s head of Global Hawk business development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a solution that we\u2019ve identified and made a pitch to the Air Force. We\u2019re just waiting for the requirements to basically say: \u2018Go do [that],\u2019 \u201d he said during an interview at Northrop\u2019s facilities in Palmdale, California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The F-35 and F-22\u2019s inability to share data with each other has been a longstanding issue that the Air Force has been grappling with for some time. At one point, the service planned to retrofit its F-22s with MADL, but the program was canceled early this decade. However, as the F-35 becomes a more substantial part of the Air Force\u2019s inventory, finding a communications gateway between fifth- and fourth-generation fighters is becoming a bigger priority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lyons told Defense News he expects the Air Force to release a joint urgent-operational-needs statement sometime over the next six months, and that a Freedom 550-equipped Global Hawk would likely be Northrop\u2019s offering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Freedom 550 is a multichannel, software-defined radio that shares data from MADL and IFDL through J-series messages via Link 16, according to Northrop. It can also link fifth-generation fighters like the F-35 and F-22 with fourth-gen jets like the F-15 and F-16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt has the ability to pull the fifth-gen comms \u2014 the secured comms \u2014 and then it can bridge it over to an unsecured network, if you want, like Link 16 or SADL\u201d Lyons said, using an acronym for the situational-awareness data link. \u201cIt allows those secure comms to talk to each other, because right now they can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Northrop has demonstrated the Freedom 550 in a series of simulated and live exercises between fourth- and fifth-gen fighter jets, but never with F-35s and F-22s in a live environment or using the Global Hawk as a communications relay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this year, the company partnered with the British Royal Air Force on a two-week trial called Babel Fish III that used the Freedom 550 to allow F-35Bs to talk with Eurofighter Typhoons, which operate over the Link 16 network. The F-35 also operates Link 16 and can pass data directly through that link, but MADL-specific data cannot be transmitted.<\/p>\n\n\n\t