Latest news with #NATOAWACS
Business Insider
3 days ago
- General
- Business Insider
NATO's flying radar is an old plane, but E-3 crews say it's still a mission workhorse
NATO AIR BASE GEILENKIRCHEN — Stepping aboard the E-3 Sentry feels a bit like walking into a museum. The modified Boeing 707/320 passenger jet is decades old, and the dated interior is a constant reminder. But don't let the jet's age fool you. The E-3, an Airborne Warning and Control System, or AWACS, is packed with highly advanced technology that enables it to perform surveillance, communications tasks, and battlefield command and control. "It's an aging aircraft, but it's still relevant," Capt. Jasper, a Dutch surveillance controller who monitors air and surface activity, explained. Over the past couple of decades, he said, whenever there was a conflict, "the NATO AWACS was always the first one to deploy." In the early days of the Ukraine war, these aircraft were just about flying around the clock. Business Insider recently flew aboard a NATO AWACS from Geilenkirchen, in western Germany, to the Baltic region and back. The eight-hour surveillance mission was tasked to support an alliance security operation in the Baltic Sea following the sabotage of critical undersea infrastructure. The modified E-3 began engineering, testing, and evaluation in 1975, and two years later, the first operational aircraft was delivered to the US Air Force. NATO received its first of 17 E-3s in early 1982; 14 planes are operating out of Geilenkirchen Air Base. During its more than 40 years in service, the Sentry has flown to support missions and conflict operations around the world, including over North America, Europe, and the Middle East. More recently, the NATO alliance has increased its focus on Eastern Europe and monitoring of Russian activity following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. For a "very old aircraft," it is "still very relevant nowadays," said Capt. Jasper, who, like other members of the multinational crew that BI spoke with during the flight, could only be identified by his rank and first name for security reasons. Every year 'will be more challenging' While the interior of the E-3 gives off Cold War relic vibes, the aircraft is a highly sophisticated flying radar and airborne command post packed with sensitive technology and computer monitors displaying a range of highly classified information that was sanitized thoroughly before BI was allowed to take a look. The aircraft is equipped with a large 360-degree rotating radar dome, which can see over 300 miles across the air and surface, and advanced sensors that can detect friendly or hostile objects from far away. Data collected by the E-3 can then be distributed in real time to allied aircraft, ships, or ground stations, giving battlefield commanders essential situational awareness in war or peacetime. And unlike fixed land-based radars, the aircraft is not restricted by terrain or the curvature of the Earth. "We have a unique capability," Capt. Jasper explained. "We can fly, we can see a little bit further, we can see a little bit lower, and we can take maritime assets as well." The E-3 is a flexible command and control platform capable of battle management; it can coordinate with other aircraft — fighter jets, bombers, or tankers — whether during a conflict sortie or just during a training run. Maj. Ben, an American officer and the AWACS' fighter allocator in charge of coordinating with other aircraft, described the E-3 as a "critical C2 (command and control) node," explaining that "it provides that long reach of a radar for our higher headquarters, as well as communications." "We have the radar, we have the radios, to be able to reach out at long ranges and communicate, coordinate, and control any aircraft that we can see, and then we can talk to," he said. "We're also able to reach back to higher headquarters and pass along any critical information so they can make better decisions" with that real-time data. The E-3 doesn't necessarily look any different than it did back in the 1980s, but even though the airframe remains the same, the systems have continuously been updated over the years, explained Dutch Capt. Donny Demmers, a public affairs officer who was permitted to share his full name. A recent $1 billion final modernization effort, for instance, is intended to provide the AWACS with new communications and networking capabilities, according to a NATO fact sheet. The E-3's system upgrades over the years have been so significant that Capt. Jasper, who previously flew with the plane from 2010 to 2015, needed to renew his training when he returned in 2022. There had been so many changes. However, as time goes on, Demmers said the logistics of maintaining the aircraft have become increasingly challenging, especially because production lines are not cranking out readily available spare parts, like the engines. "It's still safe, but every year we pass, it will be more challenging" to keep the aircraft up to standard, he said. NATO announced plans in 2023 to eventually replace the E-3 fleet with Boeing's E-7 Wedgetail, a derivative of the US aerospace giant's next-generation 737 aircraft. The first new aircraft is expected to be ready for operational duty by the early 2030s, with the E-3s set to retire after 2035. But until that day comes, the E-3 crew is more than happy with its performance and believes that the mission will continue on uninterrupted. "It's still a good jet and we are performing our task. We are fulfilling the higher command's objectives that they're giving us," Capt. Marek, a Polish passive controller who works with the AWACS' advanced sensors, said of the E-3. "NATO is planning to change the platform," but this process takes time, he said. "So our maintainers, our logistics, are doing their best to keep these jets in that perfect status. And I have no doubts that it will still be an operational jet for many years."
Business Insider
5 days ago
- Business Insider
Inside NATO's 'eyes in the sky' watching Russian moves from 30,000 feet
Business Insider got access to a NATO AWACS flight for an eight-hour surveillance mission. The mission provided aerial support for a NATO patrol and security operation in the Baltic Sea. This is what it's like inside the E-3A Sentry, keeping an eye on Russian activity at 30,000 feet. ABOARD A NATO AWACS PLANE — As the aircraft soared over Eastern Europe, tiny triangles and U-shapes blinked across a glowing console. Each shape marked a presence — a ship, a fighter jet, or something else moving near the Baltic Sea and the militarized Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. The NATO E-3A Sentry, a flying radar and airborne command post, was tracking them all, with its rotating radar dome scanning hundreds of miles in every direction. "We're the eyes in the sky," said Maj. Ben, a US Air Force officer and the mission's fighter allocator. "Being up at 30,000 feet, we can look down and we see pretty much everything to the ground." Business Insider was given access to a NATO AWACS flight this week for an eight-hour surveillance mission above Eastern Europe. Departing from Geilenkirchen Air Base in western Germany — home to 14 aging E-3s — at 8 am, the plane flew east to support Baltic Sentry operations, an ongoing alliance effort focused on protecting undersea infrastructure after recent sabotage incidents in the Baltic Sea. "Nice view, right?" someone in the cockpit, it wasn't immediately clear who, said into their headset as the plane poked through the thin cloud layer. The airborne warning and control system, or AWACS, is a modified Boeing 707/320 passenger plane with a long-range radar and advanced sensors that can detect friendly or hostile objects from far away and collect data that can be distributed in real time to allied ground stations, ships, or other aircraft. The E-3 is easily recognizable with its 360-degree rotating radar dome above the fuselage. It can see over 300 miles across the air and surface, giving commanders critical situational awareness at war or in peacetime. As an older plane, the interior feels more like a Cold War time capsule than a 21st-century warplane, but this aircraft is actually a surveillance nerve center loaded with advanced and highly classified equipment, keeping tabs on things. The surveillance mission is "the bread and butter of this platform," said Maj. Ben, who, like others BI spoke with during the flight, could only be identified by his rank and first name for security reasons. The E-3 is capable of a range of missions, including surveillance, tracking, target detection, early warning, command and control, and battle management, making it a high-value military asset and one of the few that NATO itself actually owns. Built in the '80s, still critical now NATO received its first E-3s in 1982. Despite their age, these planes have proven indispensable since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014. After the full-scale assault in 2022, the AWACS fleet intensified its patrols to monitor Russian activity and deter aggression on NATO's eastern flank. The AWACS functions like a high-flying office space, with a range of different roles and stations where crew members work at their computers or with other sensitive instruments. In the back of the aircraft are a few makeshift beds, a place to store and heat food, and a toilet. Looking at it in 2025, the interior is dated and almost feels like stepping into a museum. This flying command station is anything but an artifact. The plane is packed with advanced capabilities. And just about everything the crew touches, from paperwork to computer screens, is classified and had to be sanitized before BI could take photos. The most sensitive area of the aircraft, where key communication systems are, is covered with a curtain. The plane's big radar rotates once every 10 seconds and can detect everything from warships to aircraft to air defense systems. It gathers data that the surveillance operators can see on digital maps and immediately transmit to users on the ground, at sea, or in the air. "Wherever the demand is for an air picture, we can go there," explained Cpt. Jasper, a Dutch surveillance controller who monitors the airspace and surface. "That's something that static sites cannot do, and what most ground sites cannot do," he said, adding that this is the advantage of "having a big flying radar and air control station." One screen BI was authorized to review showed activity in and above Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, the Baltic Sea, and Kaliningrad. The small but heavily militarized Russian province, sandwiched between two NATO countries, has long been a concern for the alliance. That is why the AWACS are watching, and they see everything. If a Russian fighter jet took off from an airbase in Kaliningrad, the AWACS — circling just beyond its airspace — would surely spot it. The exclave hosts some of Moscow's ships, ground forces, and air defenses. Cpt. Marek, a Polish passive controller who works with the AWACS' advanced sensors, said the aircraft provides extra "situational awareness" to the Baltic Sentry operation and for the eastern flank allies. He added that the aircraft is an essential part of European security, and that's especially been the case since the war in Ukraine started. Flexibility in flight Beyond its robust surveillance capabilities, the E-3 is also a command and control platform that can coordinate with other aircraft and easily be retasked. This flight, for instance, was initially set to operate in Polish airspace but moved to Lithuanian airspace to support a training mission involving Portuguese F-16 fighter jets. That flexibility is a critical capability for high-end fights, where numerous assets would be on the move in a fast-paced operating environment. "For the time we are now in, it's better to have a flexible force. We can go everywhere," said Cpt. Jasper said. Key to the E-3's flexibility is its endurance. The aircraft can normally operate for eight and a half hours, although it can fly longer missions through its air-to-air refueling capability. At one point during the flight, the vintage seatbelt sign clicked on, signaling that this process was about to begin. Aerial refueling is a delicate process that requires the AWACS pilots to drop altitude and fly the aircraft by hand so it can connect to the tanker and receive fuel. This made for a bumpy stretch that much of the crew elected to sleep through. From the cockpit, the E-3 closed with the American KC-135 tanker aircraft, getting so close that the face of an airman inside could be seen to take on 40,000 pounds of fuel before separating and going on with its mission. Dutch Cpt. Donny Demmers, a public affairs officer who was permitted to share his full name, said NATO can send an AWACS to operate from an area far from base, and thanks to the mid-air refueling, the plane can remain on station for a long time. The E-3 flew back to Geilenkirchen and touched down shortly before 4 pm, but that flight time could have been greatly extended if needed during a crisis. "The flexibility gives us the survivability," Demmers said.
