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.
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.