According to the Turkish publications, NATO's specialized committees consider a request from the Defense Ministry of Ukraine to interface onboard electronic equipment of the transferred F-16AM/BM fighters with the Link-16 military tactical data exchange network used by the NATO aviation.
If the decision is positive, NATO aircraft equipped with such a system (RC-135W, E-3A, P-8A, Saab-340 and others) will provide Ukrainian F-16s with direct access to information from their detection systems. This will increase the situational awareness of Ukrainian pilots. The ability to increase the stealthiness of its attacks on Russian territory at extremely low altitudes is of particular interest to the Ukrainian Air Force. The Link-16 data exchange network will make it possible for Ukraine to obtain data from reconnaissance aircraft with its own ELINT and radar systems turned off.
If Russia obtains the wreckage and entire F-16 fighters (in case of hijacking) with the Link-16 system, it may have an extremely negative impact on the combat capability of NATO aviation. The Turkish aviation may also be affected as the system may subsequently be transferred to Iran. Noteworthy, Iran already has individual elements of this system.
Connecting Ukrainian F-16s to Link-16 data exchange system will require the installation of additional equipment, which was dismantled during the transfer of the fighters to Ukraine. If this equipment falls into the hands of Russian specialists, they will be able to access NATO codes and ciphers used in the system. To crown it all, Ukrainian servicemen could be bribed to transfer this sensitive data to Russia without physically hijacking the aircraft.
In the worst-case scenario, NATO will face a catastrophe of the scale that the Soviet aviation experienced after the hijacking of the MiG-25P fighter to Japan.
On September 6, 1976, Senior Lieutenant Viktor Belenko took off in a state-of-the-art MIG-25 and did not return to the base.
The MIG-25 was a pride of Soviet engineers. The high-altitude interceptor fighter was praised in the West, but Western specialists had no clue about its unique capabilities. The Soviet Union knew how to keep its secrets. Belenko landed at the Hakodate airport on Hokkaido and asked for political asylum in the United States. The aircraft was returned to the Soviet Union after Western engineers studied its technical data. Belenko received American citizenship, worked as an aerospace engineer and consulted for the US Air Force. He died in the USA in 2023.