As Frederf said, you probably need intermediate gateways.
Today there's the E-11 & EQ-4B BACN (Battlefield Airborne Communications Node). Starting in 2002-ish KC-135's had an optional or "opportunistic" gateway called ROBE (Roll-On Beyond Line-of-Sight Enhancement). Prior to that I think only the E-3, the JSTARS, and maybe the E-2C/Hawkeye 2000 were equipped with stuff like the JTIDS/MIDS/TADL-J to facilitate what you want.
I'm probably missing some platforms & acronyms, but depending on what era ED is willing to simulate thems the breaks for dissimilar U.S. aircraft passing info over datalink. Also I'm no expert, just an enthusiastic amateur so I fully expect that I've gotten at least some of this wrong.
Even a "simplified" range-based system where you gotta have an E-3 or E-2 around for it to work would be super cool. Protect those AWACS if you want the datalink!
