What the hell is going on here?
This is an example naval engagement. Note that the numbers are track numbers and are really meaningless for this discussion. The green dotted line is a line of datalink communications. The yellow lines are attack tracks, and the green lines are ESM tracks.
The red boxes, marked A, represent an enemy task force of five warships.
The two green boxes of B are two reconnaissance style aircraft, perhaps Su-24MR or Tu-95RTs. They have picked up the fleet with their ESM equipment.
The single green box marked C is an AWAC / AEW aircraft. It has picked up the red fleet with its ESM equipment. Note it's also coordinating between D, E, and F.
The single green box of D is a missile submarine in contact, via datalink, with the commander, who is at E. It has an attack track to launch its complement of surface to surface missiles.
The two green boxes of E are two surface warships. Note they are in datalink with most other assets: this will be the commander, most likely. His two ships have an attack track to the red fleet for their surface to surface missiles.
The four green boxes of F are maritime strike planes, either carrier based, or in this situation, land-based. They probably represent Tu-22M aircraft or something similar. They have anti-shipping missiles and they also have an attack track.
B and C have a fix on the enemy fleet at A. They are reporting via datalink to the commander at E, who, with his own datalink, has massed his three strike elements, D, E, and F. They all have different velocities and different weapons, so for a true combined arms attack, he must launch at different times, but essentially, he is now ready to attack on a multi-front axis with surface to surface missiles.
The red boxes, marked A, represent an enemy task force of five warships.
The two green boxes of B are two reconnaissance style aircraft, perhaps Su-24MR or Tu-95RTs. They have picked up the fleet with their ESM equipment.
The single green box marked C is an AWAC / AEW aircraft. It has picked up the red fleet with its ESM equipment. Note it's also coordinating between D, E, and F.
The single green box of D is a missile submarine in contact, via datalink, with the commander, who is at E. It has an attack track to launch its complement of surface to surface missiles.
The two green boxes of E are two surface warships. Note they are in datalink with most other assets: this will be the commander, most likely. His two ships have an attack track to the red fleet for their surface to surface missiles.
The four green boxes of F are maritime strike planes, either carrier based, or in this situation, land-based. They probably represent Tu-22M aircraft or something similar. They have anti-shipping missiles and they also have an attack track.
B and C have a fix on the enemy fleet at A. They are reporting via datalink to the commander at E, who, with his own datalink, has massed his three strike elements, D, E, and F. They all have different velocities and different weapons, so for a true combined arms attack, he must launch at different times, but essentially, he is now ready to attack on a multi-front axis with surface to surface missiles.