As the recent Chinese spy balloon encounter showed, keeping the skies safe is a tough job. For decades the U.S. Air Force has relied on the E-3 Sentry, and the most recent version, the E-3G, has been upgraded with more modern electronics and software to keep up with new threats.
‘The best way to describe it is kind of like the quarterback in the sky,” said Air Force Col. Keven Coyle, commander of the 552nd Air Control Wing. “It’s the job of the E-3 to surveil, to layout the enemies arrayed, and then allow our friendly forces to be able to be set up in a way that allows them to fight with the greatest capacity.”
The Air Force is hoping that the E-7 Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft built by Boeing can take over down the line if the Air Force needs to retire some of the older Sentry aircraft over the coming years. In the most recent budget, Congress appropriated an additional $200 million for the Air Force to develop a prototype to meet that need.
“Congress has approved the money for the first two prototypes, which is a very good thing for the Air Force,” said Lt. Col. Peter “Beast” Bastien, Air Combat Command directorate of plans, programs and requirements, airborne weapons systems and futures chief. “On the other hand, there’s a physical limitation on how fast you can turn a roll of aluminum into an E-7.”
The age of the E-3s has made replacement parts more difficult to procure, and the mechanical breakdowns inherent in such an old aircraft are impacting mission rates. Congress prohibited the Air Force from starting to retire the bulk of the current fleet of Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft until the Secretary of the Air Force submits an acquisition strategy to Congress for a replacement. But even then, it could be years until a replacement is operational.
“Having the first one out in 2027 is not bad from an acquisition point of view, ” said Daniel Goure, senior vice president with the Lexington Institute, “Even for a system that’s been in some variants in the field for a long time, that’s pretty darn quick, but if there is a way to get them quicker we really need to consider that in order to make sure that we don’t lose the capability because of a problem with the aging AWACS.”
Watch the video above to get a look inside the Air Force’s E-3G Sentry.
Chapters:
02:55 — Radar changes warfare
03:55 — The E-3 Sentry
06:16 — Controlling the battlespace
08:15 — What’s next?
Produced by: Brad Howard
Supervising Producer: Jeff Morganteen
Animations: Jason Reginato
Additional Footage: The NATO Channel, Department of Defense
Special Thanks to: 552nd ACW, 966th AACS, 960th AACS, 552nd Maintenance Squadron
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How The Air Force’s Aging E-3 Sentry Stirs Questions Of Airborne-Battle Readiness
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Manned aircraft are looking weaker all the time now. If by chance the day comes that some fat guy in a VR headset can defeat an entire squadron of experienced pilots it would be best we are not caught hanging onto traditional aircraft just because we enjoy them more. A lack of imagination will be our undoing. We have to be the 1st to imagine or as the world's #1 power we will be the 1st to be targeted by anyone who gets there before us. We can spend all day learning about AWACS and f-22s but no advantage is guaranteed by anything we have. Thats why having a free society, with a free flow of ideas, where people don't suffer like dying pigs the second they can't serve a petty job anymore should be important to us. Seems like we're missing the mark by a lot on that last one.
They need to get a couple of these up north
The first line instantly reminded me of that missile meme
Ready to deliver some freedom and democrazy.. and of course helping business to get some resources they needed.
Airmen are allowed to have beards now?
Does the US really intend on pouring more money into Boeing? aren't there other more reliable companies ?
Stealth awacs
The US Air Force wastes billions of dollars with insane requirements for aircraft that are already operational. Look at the KC-30. There were already 767 tankers flying for other countries and doing fine. Any added capability from the US specifications were not worth the time and cost. The same will apply to the E-7.
JOE BIDEN GAVE THE TALIBAN $90BN OF MILITARY HARDWARE , AND NOW IS GIVING UKRAINE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN MILITARY HARDWARE , BUT TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE $600.00 LET THAT SINK INN !!!
During the Irak's war?? 🤔 Or best called during the Irak's invasion!! 👍
Anyone? – – I thought AWACS had a 30-mile radar range?
(Video says 280-miles?)
Advertising for the military industrial complex.
Please do not film the interior of any such aircraft, even with clearance. Set a precedent that maintains and upholds the oath broadcasters offer the nation. Thank you for your great work and enduring service to a wide audience. Thank you.
Xi Jinping eats DOG and Uyghur fetus soup!!!
Quarterback in the sky… How American is that… Like everyone in the world knows what's a quarterback lollll
Shout out to tinker
These are doing sorties all around Ukraine! 👍
Russia, stop the murders & go home!
#PutinWarCriminal
Correction it’s not the “wars in Iraq and Afghanistan” rather the “INVASION OF IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN”.
Excellent report! Thank you.
Can somebody help me out here? How can planes like those NOT be sitting ducks for enemy rockets? It seems like they would be the #1 priority for the enemy to shoot dawn.
Ukraine is losing because they just stay in Europe. It's almost as if people want Ukraine to be destroyed.
Why hasn't they USAF procured the E767, that has the E3 electronics suite or the E7 Wedgetail the 737 derived Sentry aircraft?
The E-3 Sentry is one reason the US maintains the #1 military in the world. That said, like the F-22s being replaced by the easier and cheaper to maintain F-35 jets being fitted with more advanced tech, as the military advances our capabilities with advanced stealth bombers, so will go the E-3 Sentry. Soon we will see more advanced aircraft to seamlessly replace the E-3 with better tech and easier maintenance capabilities and cost…Just sayin'
Glory to the greatest nation on the planet!!! Glory to the USA military.
in 79 to 81 i was a mate to a guy that had the most hours on awax He died of the same thing three of his crew mates…..stomach cancer
Its sickening to think that the savings of $3bn is just a drop in the bucket, to the trillions of dollars the DOD lost before 9/11 and even after
This report is yet another clear example of how wasteful and inefficiently the military is.
It would cost them almost nothing to buy a couple of used commercial jets, like a bunch of 777-300 ers, refurbish the insides and put the radome on top.
Red flag is amazing with all the brits 😍
I live in Western Norway and even though our country doesn't have an E3 Sentry, I've seen it over my house several times, flying in circles quite low (my guess is about 300 m above sea level) probably looking for ruskie subs lol
This is the first aircraft I got to stare at for 12 hours in Security Forces, it was mildly more exciting than the KC-10s.
Who says it is Chinese? Might be North Korean–unless the payload is recovered–lets hope these gung-ho cowboys keep their guns in the holsters.
It's amazing that the AWACS is still in operation. My first job out college was working as a software engineer for Boeing in Seattle on the E-3A for a couple of years before it was delivered. I had to learn JOVIAL (Jules Own Version of ALGOL) but since it was basically a derivative of ALGOL I was able to start on my assignment within a week. There were about 300 software engineers on one side of an old WW2 building, and 200 hardware engineers on the other side. We had our own test plane in Seattle but we had to send the program (on tape reels) to Tinker every week for the Air Force to test the system.
Didn't the jsdf made a awacs 767