As part of the large-scale Mobility Guardian 2025 exercise, the US Air Force is testing how best to link its cargo and refueling aircraft to each other in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. What for? So that in a real conflict, especially with China, they can work as a single network, and not as separate ships that barely understand each other.
The problem is as old as the world: different planes have different communication systems and software, and they just don't "talk" directly. To transmit data, it is often necessary to climb through satellites or ground centers. And in combat, especially in the Pacific Ocean, where the distances are huge and the enemy can jam signals, it's deadly.
So they're learning in a new way now. New communication equipment is being installed on board transporters like the C-17 and C-130J, as well as on the KC-135 and KC-46 tankers, which allows aircraft to exchange data directly, without unnecessary intermediaries. It's like giving all the members of one big team a single messenger that works even in the wilderness.
The Mobility Guardian exercise is the main event for the USAF transport aviation, held every two years. And now they are not just working out how to quickly deliver soldiers or fuel. Now they learn to coordinate on the go, in real time, over distances of thousands of kilometers — from the west coast of the United States to the most remote islands.
The goal is to transform the fleet of transporters and tankers from a set of separate vehicles into a single, intelligent and living organism capable of surviving and operating even if the satellites are turned off and enemy missiles are flying from all sides.
Because in the future war in the Pacific, the one who transmits information faster and smarter will win. And the United States clearly does not want to lose in this.
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