E-3A is a kind of electronic aircraft with quite complex electronic equipment and advanced performance, which has the ability to look down, not only to search and monitor water, land and air targets, but also to command and guide its own aircraft to fight, so it is also called an air early warning and control aircraft.
The E-3A AWACS command aircraft is a modified Boeing 707-320B civil aircraft. It is an all-weather long-range large-scale strategic early warning aircraft developed in accordance with the US Air Force's "Air Alert and Control System" program, which has good downward vision capability and can closely monitor all kinds of manned and unmanned aircraft at high altitudes. It has been developed into four models: A, B, C, and D, of which E-3B and E-3C are used by NATO troops.
It took 15 years from the development of the aircraft (1963~1973) to the delivery of the first E-3A (1977), costing about 2 billion US dollars; the aircraft is 46.6 meters long, with a wingspan of 44.4 meters and a height of 12.9 meters, and there is a disc-shaped radar radome with a diameter of 9.1 meters on the fuselage, the antenna can do 360-degree scanning in the cover, and 600 targets can be found and tracked at the same time in one scan, covering an area of 30 to 50 square kilometers; the practical ceiling of the E-3A is 12,200 meters, the maximum level flight speed is 853 kilometers per hour, the maximum endurance time is 11.5 hours, and the crew
17 people.
It provides real-time display for missions such as air blocking, ground support, air refueling, and air rescue. The E-3A can guide up to 100 of its own aircraft to attack at the same time, and determine the order of attack according to the threat level of the target. In air combat, the E-3A can increase combat efficiency by 15~30 times. The United States believes that as long as it is equipped with 34 E-3A, it will be able to meet the defense needs of the US military and form a powerful and effective radar barrier. Therefore, the US military attaches great importance to the E-3A early warning system. In fact, the E-3A has long been on the task of American intercontinental air defense in the 70s of the 20th century. In 1978, the first batch of six E-3A early warning command aircraft was delivered to the US Air Force. In 1984, a total of 29 E-3As were equipped with troops. At present, the US Air Force has more than 30 aircraft. With the development of pulse-Doppler radar, synthetic aperture radar and moving target detection technology, the E-3A has also been improved, and models such as the E-3B, C, and D have appeared. The E-3C AWACS aircraft is equipped with 12 multi-purpose consoles and 3 auxiliary displays, and the on-board computer and radar equipment have also been improved, increasing target processing capabilities and the ability to search for sea targets. A joint tactical information distribution system and a satellite navigation and communication terminal are installed on board, and the data can be shared among the three armed forces in the theater. As soon as the land command structure is destroyed, the theater command can be "moved" into the air.
The all-weather, high-performance "Wanglou" early warning aircraft displayed its might in the Gulf War. During the first days of Operation Desert Storm, the E-3 remained on duty 24 hours a day. According to statistics, during the entire "Desert Storm", E-3 aircraft made 448 sorties and flew a total of 5,546 hours. In addition to the 4 crew members in each lift-off, 19~29 special experts carry out various tasks on board to jointly complete the task of the "watchtower" as the air commander. Not to mention its ability to discover targets and guide operations, even the control of its own tankers is enough to show its ability. On the afternoon of 17 January 1991, four F-16 fighters returning from a mission in central Iraq ran out of fuel and one aircraft was wounded in battle and was in urgent need of aerial refueling support. This situation was discovered in time by the E-3A early warning aircraft that was on alert in the air. After information processing, the "watchtower" immediately guided two KC-135 tankers to meet them, and refueled the F-16 in time to ensure its safe return. In this regard, the pilots of the multinational force affectionately call the "watchtower" the air command.
At present, in addition to the US military, France, Great Britain and Saudi Arabia are also equipped with E-3A AWACS aircraft.