The fifth generation fighter, the F-35 Lightning II, will be able to act as an “extended pair of eyes”, providing “stunning opportunities” for data fusion on American ships. The specifics of using these aircraft in conjunction with the Naval Integrated Fire Control-Counter Air (NIFC-CA) ship system in an interview with The Drive were revealed by Lockheed Martin's Surface Fleet Mission Systems Director Rich Calabrese.
“Basically, the architecture is arranged in such a way that we created a component that can receive data that will come from the F-35, and provide it in a form that the weapons control system can use to defeat,” – said the specialist, answering the question journalist Tyler Rogoway on the ability of destroyers or cruisers to hit targets that are not in the line of sight of these ships.
In October 2020, Popular Mechanics magazine wrote that the Russian Zircon hypersonic missile can be detected using an E-2D Hawkeye carrier-based early warning aircraft or a fifth-generation F-35B Lightning II carrier-based fighter, and aiming at the missile with the aim of its subsequent destruction through the latest NIFC-CA system.
In the same month, the Russian Ministry of Defense presented a video of the first launch of the Zircon from the frigate Admiral Gorshkov.
