HMD and Data Link Symbology and Capabilities

[F35 Enjoyer]

Will we be expecting something like the A-10CII in terms of datalink and symbology (networked aircraft, waypoint direction, other aircraft's SPIs, etc) or will it be a completely different thing?

[Revelation]

It will be way more advanced in the F-35. 

[NytHawk]

On 5/6/2025 at 3:54 PM, F35 Enjoyer said:

Will we be expecting something like the A-10CII in terms of datalink and symbology (networked aircraft, waypoint direction, other aircraft's SPIs, etc) or will it be a completely different thing?

I have limited experience on the A10C, however MADL used on the F35 does basically everything you can do in the F16, plus more.


Friendly aircraft will have their own PPLI symbology. Cyan for aircraft in your flight, Green for friendly aircraft outside of your flight.
Ownship symbol is the cyan hollow F35 icon.


Friendly F35s (likely other aircraft as well) will show a dashed line between them and their next-to-shoot target. Once a missile is launched, a missile symbol will appear and travel towards the target.
The missile flight path is shown by another dashed line, and TTI is shown under the missile symbology.


F35s can send images and assignments for ground targets from its own A2G sensors (like the FCR) to specific F35s in its flights. Target assignments will appear as inverted cyan triangles in all of their portals (TSD, TFLIR etc).


White triangles represent ground tracks, moving ground targets will have a white vector on the top showing its direction of movement. Half filled triangles indicate ground tracks which have been correlated between both on-board and off-board sensors to my understanding.



Information from both MADL and Link16 combined with onboard sensors can also affect the Fusion ID and confidence on the expanded data window.

F35s over MADL can collaborate with each other by sharing all sorts of information from all their sensors individually (FCR/DAS/EOTS/ESM etc). This allows for some additional ways of acquiring and tracking targets including TDOA and passive target triangulation.

There are obviously a lot of other MADL features on the F35 which i haven't covered. or understand yet. Such as this Imagery request system above.

All images above sourced from various youtube videos and several slideshows from LM with unlimited distribution statements.

 

Edited May 20 by NytHawk