The Type 42 and Type 22 worked as a complementary pair

Did a Type 42 destroyer and Type 22 frigate need a cable between them to combine radar and Sea Wolf coverage?

No. They operated as a coordinated 42/22 pair, combining complementary air-defence strengths through tactics and communications rather than a physical cable.

A viewer asks whether the two ships had to be connected by a cable to combine their strengths. They instead operated tactically as the 42/22 combination. The Type 42 supplied the broader air-defence function, while the Type 22 contributed close missile defence. The arrangement could work well when the individual ships and their coordination performed properly, but the pairing did not erase reliability or execution problems aboard either hull.