F-35 stealth fighters showed how the jet can quarterback a fight by making a rocket artillery kill shot possible
Dutch F-35 jets helped a rocket artillery system destroy a target during a real-time multi-domain exercise.
The process demonstrates how Lockheed Martin's F-35 can quarterback missions.
The F-35s passed data to a command and control system, which then had artillery engage the target.
In a matter of minutes during a recent exercise, F-35 stealth fighters penetrated hostile airspace, collected critical targeting data, and relayed it to a rocket artillery unit to eliminate a target.
The achievement marked a first live classified data share outside of the US, defense giant Lockheed Martin said this week. The capabilities demonstration came during a recent exercise in the Netherlands, and the event highlighted the jet's interoperability and also how the F-35 can quarterback missions.
The jets stealthily collected target data in an anti-access, area-denial environment, relayed combat information, and enabled a unit to conduct strikes that it might otherwise have been unable to do on its own, a key function of the fifth-generation aircraft.
Lockheed Martin shared this week that its Skunk Works and the Royal Netherlands Air Force completed the data share between an in-flight F-35 and Keystone, a Dutch command and control system, at Leeuwarden Air Base during Ramstein Flag 2025, NATO's largest tactical air exercise.
The scenario involved Dutch F-35s locating and identifying a simulated enemy ground target in a denied environment and passing that data to Keystone via Multifunction Advanced Datalink through a Skunk Works' Open Systems Gateway. The command and control system passed that information to an unspecified artillery unit.
The rocket artillery engaged a ground target and confirmed successful takedown, effectively closing the loop," Lockheed Martin said.
The F-35's role in this exercise points toward two of its strengths: advanced capabilities like all-aspect stealth, advanced avionics, and high-end sensors that help it operate in contested airspace and networking abilities that make it as much a sensor platform as it is a shooter, gathering critical information for other weapons systems to use in destroying enemy targets.
The F-35 has been referred to as a quarterback, leading the team even if it's not taking the shots itself.
Lockheed said that "by unlocking the vast amount of data from an F-35, the Skunk Works OSG enables allied air and missile defense systems to receive precise targeting information, allowing them to detect, track, and defeat threats more effectively." In this case, it was rocket artillery instead of air defense.
The achievement during this recent exercise comes at a somewhat shaky time for the F-35. Tensions created by the Trump administration's attitude toward European allies and NATO have driven some allied nations to reconsider their interest in acquiring the fifth-generation jet.
However, while President Donald Trump's actions have caused concerns, it doesn't seem that countries are overwhelmingly ready to walk away from the program just yet. The F-35 is in service with militaries around the world.
OJ Sanchez, vice president and general manager for Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, said in a statement that "the combined joint all-domain capabilities demonstrated at Ramstein Flag are a breakthrough in multi-domain operations, emphasizing the F-35's ability to seamlessly integrate with our international partners' C2 environments."
The F-35 program, the world's most expensive weapon's program, has faced criticisms throughout its development, and it continues to grapple with persistent concerns about the cost and sustainability, as well as readiness. It is still considered a top fighter aircraft, exceeding the capabilities of rivals.
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