September30, 2008:
France is upgrading its four
E-3 AWACS to the Block 40/45 standard. This includes improvements to the computers,
Electronic Warfare sensors and defenses, radar capabilities and IFF (Identification Friend or Foe). The upgrades
will cost $100 million per aircraft. France considers its E-3s a strategic
weapon, which can be flown to any part of the world where French warplanes are
operating.
The Block
40/45 upgrade consists largely of replacing the 1980s era computers and
electronics with modern gear. This also makes it possible to more quickly
upgrade hardware and software (often using off-the-shelf commercial stuff) in
the future. Most visibly, the new software eliminates most of the hundreds of
switches and knobs that surrounded the monitors and keyboards of the old model.
Not only are many operations automated, but using many functions are now
point-and-click on a screen, not a separate switch.
The AWACS
proved to be a key to victory in the 1991, 2001 and 2003 campaigns. The key to
doing this was knowing where all friendly aircraft were at all times. Directing
a lot of warplanes over enemy territory has long been a problem. It was
elegantly solved with the development of airborne control aircraft like the
E-3. But it took half a century to perfect this approach.
The problem
was first noted during World War II, when operations involving over a thousand
aircraft in the air at once demonstrated how out of hand things could get. The
U.S. Navy planned to use radar equipped TBF Avengers to control the fighter
screen protecting the fleet from Japanese suicide bombing attacks during the
planned 1945 invasion of Japan. But the invasion never came off and the Navy
pursued the radar equipped control aircraft idea at a more leisurely pace after
the war. The navy E-1 airborne early warning aircraft first flew in 1956 and
entered service in 1960. While mainly used to extend the radar coverage of a
naval task force, this type of aircraft also had a vital role in controlling
large numbers of friendly warplanes in air battles.
By 1953, the
Air Force was able to send propeller driven transports (EC 121 Lockheed
Constellations), equipped with powerful radar and radio equipment, off the
coasts of North America to watch for Russian bombers. Beginning in 1965, the
first of thirty EC 121s was sent to Vietnam, where they controlled combat
operations in the northern part of the country. As useful as these aircraft
were, it was obvious that, with a little more technology, one could really
control air combat operations.
The ultimate
solution came in the form of a four engine jet transport converted to a flying
radar station and control tower. This was the E-3 AWACS, whose development
began in the late 1960s, and the first prototypes were flying in the late
1970s. The E-3 went into regular use in 1982. Flying far enough inside friendly
territory to avoid enemy anti aircraft missiles, the AWACS radar has a radar
range of between 200 km (for small aircraft or cruise missiles flying close to
the ground) to 600 km (for large aircraft flying at high altitude). The AWACS
tracks several hundred friendly and enemy aircraft at once. The AWACS acts as
an airborne command center for aircraft. Friendly planes are kept out of each
other's way (there was not a single friendly air to air collusion during the
1991 Gulf war, or in any subsequent operations using the E-3.)
Enemy
aircraft are spotted, identified and friendly interceptors assigned to take
care of the hostile planes. One or more AWACS is used to control an air
operation and each can stay up eleven hours at a time, or up to 22 hours with
refueling and extra crew on board to man the equipment. Its first wartime
workout, during the 1991 Gulf war, was a spectacular success, often in more
ways than anticipated. For example, the use of over a hundred tankers to refuel
combat aircraft would not have been possible without the AWACS being there to
efficiently link tankers and aircraft needing fuel. Forming up the Wild
Weasels, and coordinating their use with the bombers they escorted, was much
easier using an AWACS. Just keeping track of who was who and going where would
not have been possible without the AWACS.