Boeing announced Monday that the Air Force has commenced the next phase of flight tests with a B-1B bomber fitted with the fully integrated data link, or FIDL. This new gear features a Link 16 data link that adds line-of-sight capability to the aircraft’s existing beyond line-of-sight data link. The first flight of this new test round took place June 4 at Edwards AFB, Calif. During the four-hour mission, the B-1 aircrew successfully tested the data link by sending and receiving text messages and receiving data such as target coordinates for a weapon, according to the company. With the new gear, the aircrew will no longer need to type in target coordinates by hand, said Mark Angelo, Boeing’s B-1 program manager. This round of flight testing is expected to run through January 2011.
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…