Ukraine’s F-16s and Patriot Batteries Can Now Send Targeting Data Straight to NATO Allies

The Ukrainian Armed Forces have been permitted to join the Command and Control Center System Interface digital platform employed by the majority of NATO member states, which allows the country’s newly supplied F-16 and Mirage 2000 fighters and its MIM-104 Patriot air defence systems to share data directly with countries across the alliance. The platform is considered vital for providing the enhanced situational awareness needed for decision making at the tactical and strategic levels, and enabling effective coordination between interoperable forces from countries fighting together. Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Katerina Chernohorenko revealed on May 31 that the country had signed a license agreement to begin using the system to increase coordination with NATO members in air and missile operations, and to improve interoperability with countries in the alliance. She highlighted that the system operates through NATO’s Link 16 data link system, which she referred to as “military Wi-Fi.” Ukrainian fighter aircraft have notably been denied the ability to integrate Link 16 data links, largely due to concerns that this would provide Russian forces with an opportunity to develop means to compromise the system. Integration into the Command and Control Center System could pave the way to a reversal of this decision, which would significantly improve the capabilities of Ukraine’s F-16 and Mirage 2000 units.

Ukraine’s strategic location near Russian forces has the potential to make it a valuable source of intelligence on Russian forces through the integration of forward deployed ground based and airborne sensors with those of NATO members. The value of this remains limited, however, both by the extreme rate of losses which Patriot missile systems and their long range radars have suffered in the theatre, and by the obsolete nature of the small mechanically scanned array radars deployed by the country’s F-16 and Mirage 2000 fighters. It further remains uncertain how Ukrainian fighters will share data without integrating modern data links. Ukraine’s entry into the Command and Control Center System Interface could prove the be particularly valuable should a ceasefire agreement with Russian forces be reached, as this would likely pave the way both for the deployment of new Western radar systems to the country, and for the deployment of Western ground forces in the country. Common use of the digital platform would under such circumstances provide an important contribution to interoperability between Ukrainian and Western Bloc forces, allowing them to operate more effectively together in the event of a subsequent renewal of hostilities.

Ukrainian forces have since the mid-2010s shared data extensively with Western forces, with the sharing of surveillance and targeting data by NATO members having played a vital role in the country’s ongoing war effort with Russian forces. A notable recent example was a major Ukrainian attack on Russian energy infrastructure in late March, including the Sudzha pipeline infrastructure in Russia’s Kursk Region, which reportedly relied on targeting and navigation facilitated through French satellites, and input for targeting on the ground in the theatre by British specialists to facilitate strikes by HIMARS rocket artillery systems. As early as February 2023 the Kremlin claimed that NATO’s entire network of satellites was working to support Ukraine’s war effort, and more broadly its “entire intelligence infrastructure, including reconnaissance aviation, and satellite groupings” were being used for this purpose. These allegations were strongly supported both by revelations regarding the extent of the presences of Western active duty personnel and contractors on the ground, and by the scale on which Ukraine has been able to use Western precision guided armaments that rely on satellite guidance. Ukraine’s joining of the Command and Control Center System Interface is expected to build on this already existing interoperability.