Two US Air Force Lockheed Martin F-16s equipped to receive target imagery in the cockpit via datalink will take part in an experimental expeditionary force exercise at Eglin AFB, Florida, in September.
The trial will evaluate the tactical use of datalinking target images direct to the cockpit in an extension of a capability already in use on patrols over Bosnia. USAF F-16s based at Aviano AB, Italy, have been equipped to receive target co-ordinates via datalink from an air controller on the ground.
This capability, added under the Sure Strike quick-reaction project, reduces the possibility of collateral damage during precision strikes. An expanded capability to datalink target images was demonstrated in 1997 in project Gold Strike.
This system will now be tested in a full-scale firepower demonstration, which could lead to in-service F-16s being equipped with the capability.
Sure Strike added the Improved Data Modem (IDM) to F-16s at Aviano, enabling target co-ordinates to be datalinked to the aircraft via voice radio. Gold Strike adds the capability both to load target images before take-off and to capture images in flight from the targeting pod, then datalink them to ground controllers for target confirmation.
Belgian, Danish, Dutch and Norwegian F-16A/Bs undergoing the Mid-Life Update programme are being equipped with the IDM, and Lockheed Martin has teamed with Belgium's Delft Sensor Systems to develop the equipment to allow forward air controllers to send target data to the aircraft. Belgium requires 100 systems and the other three countries are expected to follow suit.
In the USA, the IDM is being installed in certain F-16C/Ds. Some will receive the situational awareness datalink and others the Multifunction Information Distribution System.
All three are expected eventually to allow imagery to be datalinked directly to the cockpit.
Source: Flight International
