WASHINGTON – The U.S. Air Force is taking its mission to connect multiple platforms and battlefields to new heights. The service's stealth fighters and a super-secret space plane could one day share information. Military.com reports. Continue reading original article

The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:

25 Nov. 2019 -- That's the concept Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein teased earlier this month, saying he's interested in seeing how the F-35 joint strike fighter, F-22 Raptor, and X-37 space plane might communicate.

"When you look at something like an X-37 or an F-35 or F-22 … as we refine these connections and we show that level of interoperability that is resilient, redundant and reliable, we will then be able to develop what that means in terms of creating an effect against the adversary," said Brig. Gen. David Kumashiro, director of joint force integration for the Air Force's Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategy, Integration and Requirements Office.

The X-37B space plane explores the practicalities and risks of "reusable space vehicle technologies." The low-Earth orbit vehicle completed its fifth, record-breaking unmanned space mission last month. Connecting the X-37B to the fighters would show "the ability to operate from all domains," Kumashiro said. That includes information sharing during wartime missions.

This article by John Keller originally appeared on Military & Aerospace Electronics in 2019.

Image: Reuters.