In this part of the review, we will focus on aircraft that are not so widely known as the E-2 Hawkeye or E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft, however, which left their mark on the history of aviation and in some cases had a noticeable impact on the course of hostilities or distinguished themselves in the field of combat. illegal drug trafficking.
As you know, on the basis of the transport and passenger Boeing 707 in the United States, a large number of military aircraft for various purposes have been created, including AWACS aircraft. The passenger Boeing 707-300 also became the base platform for another, much less well-known AWACS and U aircraft - the E-8 Joint STARS (Surveillance Target Attack Radar System). This machine, unlike the Sentry, was intended primarily for radar reconnaissance of ground targets and control of the actions of its troops in real time. The aircraft's radar equipment makes it possible to detect and classify moving and stationary ground targets (tanks, armored personnel carriers, trucks, artillery pieces, etc.) and low-altitude air targets moving at a relatively low speed (helicopters, UAVs).
The development of the joint Air Force and US Army JSTARS program began in 1982. The efficiency of the AWACS aircraft concept, designed to control the movement of enemy troops on the front line and in the immediate rear, was confirmed during the Pave reassignment test cycle. In the course of field tests with the participation of hundreds of units of military equipment, experimental radar equipment operating in the frequency range of 3-3, 75 cm was tested, on the basis of which the AN / APY-3 radar for the E-8A aircraft was later created.
Antenna for the prototype radar AN / APY-3
The AFAR AN / APY-3 synthetic aperture radar is capable of monitoring the ground situation in a wide sector. The radar antenna is installed in the lower part of the fuselage in a 12 meter fairing, and can be tilted in the vertical plane. The viewing range of the earth's surface when patrolling by an E-8A aircraft at an altitude of 10,000 meters is 250 km. The monitored area at a viewing angle of 120 degrees is about 50,000 km ². In total, up to 600 targets can be tracked simultaneously. The AN / APY-3 radar can determine the number of vehicles, location, speed and direction of travel.
The crew is 22 people. At the disposal of 18 operators, there are 17 consoles for displaying radar information, communications and navigation, and one console for controlling electronic warfare equipment. In addition to HF and VHF radio stations, there is a digital system for transmitting data to ground command posts.
The flight data of the E-8 Joint STARS aircraft practically does not differ from the E-3 Sentry. At the same time, it is noted that the controllability of the E-8 is somewhat better compared to the aircraft of the AWACS system, which, however, is not surprising, since the controllability of the Sentry is still influenced by a large mushroom-shaped radar dish, somewhat obscuring the tail.
The first contract for the construction of two E-8As was signed between the US Department of Defense and Grumman Aerospace in September 1985. At that time, excluding R&D costs, the cost of one machine with a full set of equipment was close to $ 25 million.
The aircraft of the first modification reached the required level of combat readiness by 1990. Their baptism of fire took place in 1991 during Desert Storm. E-8A made 49 sorties, having spent more than 500 hours in the air. The JSTARS equipment has demonstrated impressive capabilities in detecting camouflaged equipment and detecting the movement of enemy troops at night. At the same time, the reliability of radar stations and communications equipment turned out to be high.
However, it should be borne in mind that the success of the E-8A took place against the background of the domination of the anti-Iraqi coalition aviation, the absence of any electronic countermeasures in a perfectly flat desert area. It is no coincidence that powerful jamming systems were installed on these aircraft, accompanied by fighters during combat missions. Had they operated somewhere in Eastern Europe, saturated with air defense systems, and with the counteraction of modern Soviet-made fighters, the results of their combat missions might not be so successful. Taking into account the fact that the detection range of ground objects did not exceed 250 km, the JSTARS aircraft, which are very tasty targets, could well be in the coverage area of the Soviet S-200 air defense systems.
Since December 1995, the E-8A, transferred to the German airfield in Frankfurt, within the framework of the Dayton Agreement, controlled the process of disengaging the warring parties in the territory of the former Yugoslavia. At the same time, flights of radar surveillance aircraft often ended with air strikes on Serbian positions.
E-8C
In 1996, testing of the E-8C modification began. This machine, converted from the former Canadian CC-137 Husky, which was previously used as a transport and refueling tanker, received new means of communication with frequency hopping and a digital data transmission system capable of broadcasting information on satellite channels in addition to radio. In connection with the widespread use of long-range Russian air defense systems of the S-300P family, radio reconnaissance and jamming stations were updated. CRT monitors have been replaced by modern information display panels. But the main change was the AN / APY-7 radar. It differs from the AN / APY-3 station in its modern element base. At the same time, the target detection range has practically not changed, but thanks to the use of modern powerful computing systems, due to improved processing of the reflected radar signal, the image resolution has improved, and the number of observed targets has increased to 1000.
Satellite image of Google Earth: E-8C aircraft at Robins airbase
In total, the US Air Force and the National Air Guard received 17 JSTARS aircraft. The last E-8S was delivered in 2005. The E-8C Joint STARS of the US Air Force, belonging to the 93rd Control and Guidance Wing on a permanent basis, is stationed at Robins Air Base in Georgia, where the aircraft of the 116th Air Wing of the National Guard Air Force are based there. During the entire period of operation, not a single JSTARS was lost, however, during refueling in the air on March 13, 2009, a fuel tank burst on one of the cars. The plane managed to land safely, but the cost of the overhaul exceeded $ 10 million.
E-8S of the 116th Air Wing of the National Guard Air Force
Due to the fact that the production of the basic Boeing 707 platform was completed, the previously built KS-135 and S-137 were converted into radar reconnaissance aircraft for ground targets. Some of the vehicles were remotorized and replaced with more powerful and economical Pratt & Whitney JT8D-219 bypass turbojet engines with a thrust of 94 kN each. Thanks to new engines, the ceiling has increased to 12,800 meters. On several aircraft, in addition to the existing electronic warfare equipment and devices for shooting dipole reflectors and heat traps, a laser system was installed to counter missiles with IR seeker.
First of all, these protection improvements were intended for vehicles sent to the war zone in the Middle East. The E-8S aircraft from the 116th Command and Control Wing took an active part in Operation Enduring Freedom. The JSTARS, which flew more than 10,000 hours during the campaign, had a significant impact on the course of hostilities, according to the US Army Command. Their help was especially noticeable when, due to a dust storm, the use of tactical reconnaissance aircraft was impossible.
In the past 10 years, the E-8C has been actively used for reconnaissance flights on the Korean Peninsula and in Iraq. Testing one aircraft with a modified avionics in Afghanistan has demonstrated the ability to detect the movement of not only vehicles, but also foot groups armed with small arms, and the location of improvised explosive devices.
The US Navy is currently conducting research on the possible use of the E-8C as a command control and information transfer unit to attack combat aircraft - carriers of anti-ship missiles and planning AGM-154 bombs. Moreover, a requirement is put forward about the possibility of re-targeting a guided aviation munition after it has been separated from the carrier aircraft.
Since 2012, the United States has been discussing the issue of replacing the existing E-8C fleet in a 1: 1 ratio, which is associated with the aging of the aircraft on which the JSTARS complex equipment is located. The decommissioning of the first E-8C is scheduled for 2019, and the rest of the aircraft should be retired by 2024. The Boeing 707 platform, which has been in use by the US Air Force for over 50 years, is likely to be replaced by the Boeing 737 commercial airliner, although Bombardier's Global 6000 and Gulfstream's Gulfstream G650 are also being considered. The option of equipping the side-looking radar of the P-8 Poseidon anti-submarine patrol aircraft, created on the basis of the updated Boeing 737-800 airliner, seems quite likely.
The RQ-4 Global Hawk also claims the role of an unmanned carrier of a powerful radar for monitoring the earth's surface. But as representatives of the Air Force rightly point out, on aircraft with relatively small free internal volumes it will be extremely difficult or impossible to accommodate all the equipment currently available on E-8C aircraft, and to provide acceptable working and rest conditions for the crew during long flights. If the Global Hawk UAV is used, as the fleet insists, the function of an air command post will be lost.
In the 1980s, the flow of illegal drugs into the United States increased sharply. In addition to traditional methods of delivery, smugglers began to make extensive use of light aircraft, crossing the border at low altitude. For effective detection of low-altitude targets, ground-based radars, with the help of which air traffic was mainly regulated, were clearly not enough, moreover, the American ground-based radar network in the south of the United States in the early 70s was greatly reduced. In this case, AWACS aircraft could control the airspace from the side of Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico, from where the main flow of drugs came. But it was too expensive to use heavy AWACS aircraft for this on an ongoing basis, and the fleet command was extremely reluctant to allocate relatively economical E-2 Hawkeye.
As the new Hokaev modifications entered the deck air wings, the old E-2B and E-2C of the first modifications were transferred to the coastal reserve squadrons. It was these aircraft that most often worked in the interests of the Coast Guard and the Customs Service. However, the age of the machines, built about 20 years ago, and the imperfection of their radars affected. In some cases, the crews had to interrupt patrols due to avionics failure or problems with worn out engines. "Hawkeye", optimal for basing on an aircraft carrier, when used from a coastal airfield, did not have a sufficient flight duration. Old coast-based AWACS aircraft, as a rule, did not have equipment for refueling in the air, and the Border Customs Service did not have its own refueling aircraft.
Thus, patrolling the border required a relatively inexpensive and simple aircraft with acceptable operating costs, capable of detecting low-altitude air targets and, taking off from coastal airfields, patrolling for 8-10 hours. Coincidentally, in the mid-1980s, the US Navy had a surplus of basic P-3A Orion patrol aircraft. Anti-submarine "Orions" with four turboprop engines could conduct long patrols, being in the air for 12 hours.
The early P-3A / B were replaced in coastal anti-submarine patrol squadrons by P-3S modification vehicles with avionics and weapons that were perfect by the standards of the 80s. And the planes that had not yet flown out their life were put into storage, transferred to the allies or converted into other versions.
In order to make it possible to detect air targets, four P-3A (CS) were equipped with Hughes AN / APG-63 pulse-Doppler radars, the same as on F-15A / B fighters. However, the radars, like the Orions, were also second-hand; during the repair and modernization of fighters, they were replaced with more advanced AN / APG-70 stations. Thus, the P-3CS radar patrol aircraft was an exclusively budget ersatz version, assembled from what was at hand.
The AN / APG-63 stations installed in the bow of the Orions did not see targets very well against the background of the underlying surface, and patrol aircraft had to descend to an altitude of 100-200 meters in order to fly below the intruders. The detection range of targets flying above the horizon line exceeded 100 km. But since the radar scanned space in a rather narrow sector (± 60 ° in azimuth and ± 10 ° in elevation), patrols were usually carried out in a circle with a radius of 50-60 km or a snake of 20-25 km. Information about the detected intruder aircraft was transmitted by radio, there were no automated systems for transmitting radar information on board the aircraft. Naturally, the capabilities of the converted "Orions" could not be compared with the characteristics of radars and information exchange systems of full-fledged AWACS aircraft. The Coast Guard and Border Guard Service, despite the lower cost of the aircraft, were not completely satisfied with them. In addition, not the newest machines, already flying thousands of kilometers over the sea, required considerable care and labor in preparation for departure. However, despite the creation on the basis of Orion of an aircraft with a radar from the E-2C Hawkeye, the US federal departments did not abandon the use of patrol aircraft with relatively low-performance radars. As the converted P-3A was decommissioned from the AN / APG-63 radar, their place was taken by the P-3 LRT (Long Range Tracker), converted from the refurbished P-3B stored in Davis-Montan.
Patrol aircraft P-3 LRT
Based on the operating experience of the P-3CS, these machines, in addition to the AN / APG-63V radar with a detection range of up to 150 km, received optoelectronic side-scan systems capable of detecting a boat or light-engine aircraft at a distance of several tens of kilometers. In addition, the Orions have retained search equipment designed to detect submarines, as drug traffickers have recently begun using small submarines to penetrate the United States.
Prototype P-3 AEW during testing of radar equipment
In 1984, Lockheed Corporation, on its own initiative, based on the R-3V, created the P-3 AEW AWACS aircraft (Airborne early warning radar). The first vehicle built had the same radar as on the E-2C - AN / APS-125, with an antenna in a rotating dish-shaped fairing. This station could detect smugglers against the background of the Cessna sea at a distance of more than 250 km. The P-3 AEW was originally offered for export as a cheaper alternative to the E-3A Sentry. However, no foreign buyers were found, and the US Customs Service became the customer.
The set of onboard equipment includes communications equipment that operate not only on the frequencies of the Coast Guard and the Border Customs Service, but also capable of direct guidance of interceptors. Aircraft of a later construction received new radars AN / APS-139 and AN / APS-145, better suited for detecting low-speed air and surface targets. The first P-3 AEWs were bright red and white, now they are light colored with a blue stripe across the fuselage.
Satellite image of Google Earth: aircraft P-3 LRT and P-3 AEW and UAV MQ-9 Reaper at Corpus Christi airbase
The Border Customs Service's P-3 LRT and P-3 AEW aircraft are permanently deployed in conjunction with cooperating F / A-18 fighters at Corpus Christi Airfields in Texas and Cesil Field in Florida. In the same place, in 2015, a squadron of MQ-9 Reaper drones was deployed, which are also involved in monitoring the sea area. As of 2016, there were 14 P-3 LRT and P-3 AEW aircraft in the border aviation units.
To extend the service life of Orion-based AWACS aircraft are being repaired and modernized under the Mid-Life Upgrade program. As part of this program, P-3 AEWs undergo a full airframe diagnostics and replacement of elements that have undergone fatigue and corrosion. At the same time, the service life of the aircraft is extended for another 20-25 years. New navigation and communication equipment is being installed, as well as information display facilities, similar to the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye equipment. In the future, the P-3 AEW should receive the latest AN / APY-9 radar. In this case, in terms of their capabilities, the upgraded Orions can surpass the deck E-2D. Since the P-3 AEW is a larger vehicle, capable of being on patrol much longer, with large internal volumes, which in the future allows placing additional reconnaissance and search equipment.
In the period from September 1999 to July 2002, to compensate for the cars written off due to wear and tear, the customs received eight additional P-3 LRTs and P-3 AEWs with updated avionics. They are used extensively to curb drug trafficking and often locate smugglers' planes and boats as soon as they leave known drug trafficking areas. In some cases, the criminals were not intercepted at sea, but covertly escorted to their destination, which allowed rapid response teams to arrest not only the carriers, but also the recipients of the cargo. Usually, AWACS patrol aircraft, as part of the Double Eagle system to prevent illegal penetration, coordinate their activities with coast guard ships or fighter-interceptors, which, under the threat of the use of weapons, force intruders to land.
According to the reports of the US anti-drug department, thanks to the actions of the crews of patrol aircraft in 2015, it was possible to intercept or prevent the entry of 198 border trespassers and to confiscate more than 32,000 kg of cocaine. Aircraft of the US Customs Service regularly make "missions" to airfields in Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia in the framework of drug trafficking suppression operations. Acting from there, they control the flights of drug traffickers' light aircraft. After the Border Guard Service and the Coast Guard were subordinated to the Department of Homeland Security in 2003, AWACS aircraft engaged in border security and anti-smuggling operations in the event of a terrorist threat or aircraft hijacking are required to participate in monitoring the airspace of the continental United States. …
Finishing the story about AWACS aircraft based on the P-3 Orion, one cannot fail to mention the NP-3D Billboard. These unusual looking machines with side-looking radar in the tail section were used as radar and visual control aircraft during tests of various types of aviation missile weapons and when launching ballistic and anti-missile missiles.
NP-3D
In total, it is known about five NP-3D, converted from R-3C. In addition to radars, aircraft have various optoelectronic equipment and high-resolution cameras for photo and video recording of test objects. NP-3D aircraft have in the past participated in test missions over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans at virtually all US missile ranges. Recently, three NP-3Ds, which remained in flight condition, were used in tests of anti-missile systems.
