Skunk Works tests Project Hydra

Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, working with the Missile Defense Agency and the USAF, successfully tested Project Hydra.

The test involved using an Open Systems Gateway payload onboard a U-2 to link an F-22 to five F-35s via native Intra-Flight Data Link and Multifunction Advanced Data Link.

The target tracks were also transmitted by and through the U-2 into the fighter avionics and pilot displays.

This enabled successful data sharing between all airborne aircraft and the nodes on the ground.

Jeff Babione, VP and GM of Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, said: ‘Project Hydra marks the first time that bi-directional communications were established between 5th Generation aircraft in-flight, while also sharing operational and sensor data down to ground operators’.

Project Hydra also marked the first time that F-35 sensor data was delivered to an operational ground system over a Tactical Network Terminal link using an airborne gateway.

This data was then sent to the US Army Integrated Battle Command System (IBCS) Airborne Sensor Adaptation Kit (A-Kit), which was also developed by Lockheed Martin.

The A-Kit then transmitted data to the IBCS Tactical System Integration Laboratory. IBCS used the data to conduct a simulated Army fires exercise.

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