Airborne early warning and control
An airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) system is an airborne
AEW&C aircraft are used for both defensive and offensive air operations, and serve
General characteristics
Modern AEW&C systems can detect aircraft from up to 400 km (220 nmi) away, well out of range of most surface-to-air missiles. One AEW&C aircraft flying at 9,000 m (30,000 ft) can cover an area of 312,000 km2 (120,000 sq mi). Three such aircraft in overlapping orbits can cover the whole of Central Europe.[6] AEW&C systems communicate with friendly aircraft, vectoring fighters towards hostile aircraft or any flying unidentified object, providing data on threats and targets, help extend their sensor range and make offensive aircraft more difficult to track, since they no longer need to keep their own radar active (which can be detected by the enemy) to detect threats.
History of development
After having developed
In February 1944, US Navy ordered the development of a radar system that could be carried aloft in an aircraft under Project Cadillac.[11] A prototype system was built and flown in August on a modified TBM Avenger torpedo bomber. Tests were successful, with the system being able to detect low flying formations at a range greater than 100 miles (160 km). US Navy then ordered production of the TBM-3W, the first production AEW aircraft to enter service. TBM-3Ws fitted with the AN/APS-20 radar entered service in March 1945, with 27 eventually constructed.[12] It was also recognised that a larger land-based aircraft would be attractive, thus, under the Cadillac II program, multiple Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress bombers were also outfitted with the same radar.[13]
The Lockheed WV and EC-121 Warning Star, which first flew in 1949, served widely with US Air Force and US Navy. It provided the main AEW coverage for US forces during the Vietnam war.[14] It remained operational until replaced with the E-3 AWACS.[15] Developed roughly in parallel, N-class blimps were also used as AEW aircraft, filling gaps in radar coverage for the continental US, their tremendous endurance of over 200 hours being a major asset in an AEW aircraft.[16][17] Following a crash, the US Navy opted to discontinue lighter than air operations in 1962.[18]
In 1958, the Soviet Tupolev Design Bureau was ordered to design an AEW aircraft.[19] After determining that the projected radar instrumentation would not fit in a Tupolev Tu-95 or a Tupolev Tu-116, the decision was made to use the more capacious Tupolev Tu-114 instead.[19] This solved the problems with cooling and operator space that existed with the narrower Tu-95 and Tu-116 fuselage.[19] To meet range requirements, production examples were fitted with an air-to-air refueling probe.[20] The resulting system, the Tupolev Tu-126, entered service in 1965 with the Soviet Air Forces and remained in service until replaced by the Beriev A-50 in 1984.[20]
During the Cold war, United Kingdom deployed a substantial AEW capability, initially with American
Current systems
Many countries have developed their own AEW&C systems, although the Boeing E-3 Sentry, E-7A[24] and Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye are the most common systems worldwide.
Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS)
When AWACS first entered service it represented a major advance in capability, being the first AEW to use a pulse-Doppler radar, which allowed it to track targets normally lost in ground clutter.[26] Previously, low-flying aircraft could only be readily tracked over water.[26] The AWACS features a three-dimensional radar that measures azimuth, range, and elevation simultaneously; the unit installed upon the E-767 has superior surveillance capability over water compared to the AN/APY-1 system on the earlier E-3 models.[27][28]
E-2 Hawkeye
The E-2 Hawkeye was a specially designed AEW aircraft. Upon its entry to service in 1965, it was initially plagued by technical issues, causing a (later reversed) cancellation.[29] Procurement resumed after efforts to improve reliability, such as replacement of the original rotary drum computer used for processing radar information by a Litton L-304 digital computer.[30][31] In addition to purchases by the US Navy, the E-2 Hawkeye has been sold to the armed forces of Egypt, France, Israel, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan.[32]
The latest E-2 version is the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, which features the new AN/APY-9 radar.[33] The APY-9 radar has been speculated to be capable of detecting fighter-sized stealth aircraft, which are typically optimized against high frequencies like Ka, Ku, X, C and parts of the S-bands. Historically, UHF radars had resolution and detection issues that made them ineffective for accurate targeting and fire control; Northrop Grumman and Lockheed claim that the APY-9 has solved these shortcomings in the APY-9 using advanced electronic scanning and high digital computing power via space/time adaptive processing.[34]
Beriev A-50
The Russian Aerospace Forces are currently using approximately 3-5 Beriev A-50 and A-50U "Shmel" in the AEW role. The "Mainstay" is based on the Ilyushin Il-76 airframe, with a large non-rotating disk radome on the rear fuselage. These replaced the 12 Tupolev Tu-126 that filled the role previously. The A-50 and A-50U will eventually be replaced by the Beriev A-100, which features an AESA array in the radome and is based on the updated Il-476.[35]
KJ-2000
In May 1997, Russia and Israel agreed to jointly fulfill an order from China to develop and deliver an early warning system. China reportedly ordered one
Netra AEW&CS
In 2003, the Indian Air Force (IAF) and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) began a study of requirements for developing an Airborne Early Warning and Control (AWAC) system.[36] In 2015, DRDO delivered 3 AWACs, called Netra, to the IAF with an advanced Indian AESA radar system fitted on the Brazilian Embraer EMB-145 air frame.[37] Netra gives a 240-degree coverage of airspace. The Emb-145 also has air-to-air refuelling capability for longer surveillance time. The IAF also operates three Israeli EL/W-2090 systems, mounted on Ilyushin Il-76 airframes, the first of which first arrived on 25 May 2009.[38][39] The DRDO proposed a more advanced AWACS with a longer range and with a 360-degree coverage akin to the Phalcon system, based on the Airbus A330 airframe,[37][40] but given the costs involved there is also the possibility of converting used A320 airliners as well.[41]
IAF has plans to develop 6 more Netra AEW&CS based on Embraer EMB-145 platform[42] and another 6 based on Airbus A321 platform.[43][44] These systems are expected to have an enhanced performance including range and azimuth
Boeing 737 AEW&C
The
Erieye/GlobalEye
The
The Hellenic Air Force, Brazilian Air Force and Mexican Air Force use the Embraer R-99 with an Ericsson Erieye PS-890 radar, as on the S 100D.[49][50][51]
Others
Israel has developed the IAI/Elta
Helicopter AEW systems
On 3 June 1957, the first of 2 HR2S-1W, a derivative of the Sikorsky CH-37 Mojave, was delivered to the US Navy, it used the AN/APS-32 but proved unreliable due to vibration.[54]
The British
The AgustaWestland EH-101A AEW of the Italian Navy is operated from the aircraft carriers Cavour and Giuseppe Garibaldi.[58] During the 2010s, the Royal Navy opted to replace its Sea Kings with a modular "Crowsnest" system that can be fitted to any of their Merlin HM2 fleet.[59][60] The Crowsnest system was partially based upon the Sea King ASaC7's equipment; an unsuccessful bid by Lockheed Martin had proposed using a new multi-functional sensor for either the AW101 or another aircraft.[61][62]
The Russian-built Kamov Ka-31 is deployed by the Indian Navy on the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya and Talwar-class frigates and will be deployed on the INS Vikrant.[63] The Russian Navy has two Ka-31R variants, at least one of which was deployed on their aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov in 2016.[64] It is fitted with E-801M Oko (Eye) airborne electronic warfare radar that can track 20 targets simultaneously, detecting aircraft up to 150 km (90 mi) away, and surface warships up to 200 km (120 mi) distant.
See also
References
Citations
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- ^ a b Neufeld 1997, p. 271.
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- ^ "across the editor's desk: COMPUTING AND DATA PROCESSING NEWSLETTER – LITTON'S L-304". Computers and Automation. 14 (10): 43–44. October 1965.
- "COMPUTERS AND DATA PROCESSORS, NORTH AMERICA: 4. Litton Industries, Guidance and Control Systems Division, L-304 Militarized Computer, Woodland Hills, California". Digital Computer Newsletter. 18 (1): 23. January 1966. Archived from the original on 3 June 2018. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
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Alt URL- "1967 Pictorial Report on the Computer Field: DIGITAL COMPUTERS – TACTICAL AUTOMATIC DATA PROCESSING SYSTEM (TADPS)". Computers and Automation (12): 35. December 1967.
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- Hazell, Steve (2000). Fairey Gannet. Warpaint Series No.23. Buckinghamshire, England: Hall Park Books. ISSN 1363-0369.
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External links
- AWACS and JSTARS
- NATO AWACS-Spotter Geilenkirchen website
- FAS.org E-3 Sentry information
- Boeing AWACS website
- Airborne Early Warning Association website
- TU-126 MOSS AWACS – history of development- in Russian
- Airborne radar "Gneis-2" – in Russian
- "Electronic Weapons: AWACS Then And Forever". strategypage.com.