The success of the German Blitzkrieg was largely determined by the competent management of the Wehrmacht units and the effective well-oiled interaction between the various branches of the armed forces. As a result, by the beginning of World War II, the German army outnumbered its opponents for a decade in such criteria as the quality of communication systems, target designation and command and control. Both technically and organizationally.
Successful tactics of "battle groups" formed from Wehrmacht units, depending on the task at hand; the widespread introduction of radio communications - even the outdated T-I tankettes were necessarily equipped with a VHF radio receiver (the rest of the German tanks, starting with the light T-II, were already equipped with full-function radio stations); finally, such obvious, and at the same time, ingenious measures were taken, such as air traffic controllers-spotters of the Luftwaffe with tank battalions!
All these blanks saved great time for the advancing Wehrmacht units (and took away precious days from the enemy), allowing the German command to quickly solve any difficulties, make the right decisions and radically reduce the losses of their own troops, while simultaneously causing maximum damage to the enemy.
In modern conditions, high-quality intelligence information, uninterrupted communications and accurate target designation are placed at the head of any military operation. The recent wars in Iraq and Yugoslavia have demonstrated the effectiveness of this strategy - a solid "information dome" is created over the combat area, inside which all movements and radio communications of opponents are controlled, which allows them to reveal their plans in advance and select the highest priority targets. The terrible result is obvious: entire states are being erased from the face of the Earth with single losses from the side of NATO democratizers.
To form an invisible "information dome", both global satellite reconnaissance systems and aircraft are used: manned and unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, AWACS aircraft, electronic reconnaissance equipment, repeaters and air command posts … Direct and feedback are well established - an order from the Pentagon can be brought up to to an individual soldier in real time.
It is simply amazing how the success of large operations, involving thousands of personnel and hundreds of units of military equipment, often depends on completely unremarkable, at first glance, factors that, in the end, are of decisive importance in the preparation and conduct of any military operation. The E-8 long-range target designation aircraft of the Joint STARS system belongs to such factors.
All-seeing eye of the American army
E-8 Joint STARS (Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System) is an aircraft long-range surveillance and target designation system designed to recognize and classify ground targets at any time of the day in any weather conditions, as well as for the coordination of hostilities and two-way exchange of information with ground forces in real time. Reconnaissance and air command post rolled into one.
Technically speaking, the E-8 is an interpretation of an old Boeing 707 passenger airliner with a completely redesigned interior and an 8-meter ventral nacelle that hides the AN / APY-3 multifunctional phased array radar. The E-8 aircraft is not distinguished by record flight characteristics, it is not intended for air combat and, often, conducts surveillance without even entering the combat zone and without being in danger of being shot down from the ground.
Main performance characteristics E-8 Joint STARS
Empty weight - 77 tons, Weight max. takeoff - 152 t, Crew:
- standard: 3 pilots, about 18 operators and combat control officers, - for long missions: 6 pilots, 28 operators and combat control officers, Cruising speed - 0, 84M
Ceiling - 13,000 m, Patrol duration:
- without refueling 9 hours, - with refueling up to 20 hours, Unit cost $ 225-240 million for 1998.
According to the developer (Nortrop Grumman), the standard combat flight of the E-8 G-Stars follows the following scenario: the plane slowly loiters at a distance of 200-250 km from the combat zone. The ventral synthetic aperture radar (in other words, a specialized radar for mapping and searching for targets against the background of the earth) scans the underlying relief at heading angles, while the beam width is 120 °, and the area covered by the radar can reach 50 thousand square meters. km of the earth's surface! In total, the radar has 5 main modes of operation: wide-angle view, mapping, searching for stationary objects, searching for moving objects in the Doppler mode and determining their routes, classification of targets.
Also on board there is a camera MS-177 for visual observation of an object of interest in real time. The reconnaissance complex is capable of automatically detecting, classifying and escorting up to 600 point ground targets (armored vehicles, vehicles, stationary objects).
Having received all the necessary information about the deployment of enemy ground forces and the location of their army units, the operators must assess the situation, determine the direction of attacks and reveal the enemy's intentions. All necessary information can be transmitted to the commanders of ground units in real time (down to each individual tank). One can imagine that 18 officers aboard the JStars are playing an exciting computer game where, instead of virtual "tanks", real combat vehicles with crews of living people drive across the battlefield.
Of course, the crew of the aircraft does not have the ability to fully influence the course of the entire local war - otherwise, confusing the "k" button on the keyboard with the "n" button, you can accidentally send troops instead of Iraq to Iran. But nevertheless, the competence of these specialists includes the coordination of actions of ground forces, issuing them recommendations, intelligence and warning about possible threats - for example, about the advance of an enemy tank column in their direction.
It is worth noting that the E-8 is one of the components of the JStars system, which, in addition to the long-range observation and target designation aircraft, includes army ground-based electronic reconnaissance systems and unmanned reconnaissance drones.
Despite its seeming fantasticness and overly complex algorithms of work, "G. Stars" is in fact an absolutely ancient development, leading its history back to 1982, when the dreams of the American army and the Air Force about creating a long-range target designation aircraft and control of ground forces finally entered the phase of a meaningful project … The first E-8 "G-Stars" took off exactly 24 years ago - on December 22, 1988. And three years later, in January 1991, two JStars took part in the Gulf War, operating from air bases in Saudi Arabia. Naturally, in the desert terrain, they have proven themselves excellently - 49 sorties, 500 hours of patrolling on the front line.
The next time "G Stars" appeared in the skies over the Balkans in 1995. 95 sorties on patrol. Took part in the NATO war against Yugoslavia, ensured the invasion of Iraq (2003) - 1000 sorties. At the request of the UN, "G-Stars" were repeatedly used to monitor the situation in North Korea, and were occasionally used over the territory of Afghanistan.
The last - the 17th in a row - "G Stars" was admitted to the Air Force in 2005. For more than 20 years of operation, not a single car of this type has been lost. The Americans cite the following data regarding their combat use: in the period from 2001 to 2011. G Stars flew 5,200 patrol missions in different parts of the world, having over 10 years a total of 63,000 flight hours.
Here is such an unusual machine, a real "knight of the cloak and dagger", which remains behind the scenes of television news, while playing almost a key role in the conduct of military operations.
Surely, you have a question: is there a domestic analogue of "G-Stars"? It is difficult to directly answer this question - on the one hand, since the late 60s, I have been flying radio intelligence and electronic warfare aircraft Il-20 as part of the Russian Air Force (as it is not difficult to guess - on the basis of the famous Il-18 turboprop passenger airliner), as well as air command aircraft. Il-22 stations (another version of the Il-18) and modern VKP Il-80 (based on the wide-body Il-86 passenger aircraft). On the other hand, none of these aircraft is completely different from the G-Stars: the Il-20 is morally and physically obsolete, and the new Il-80 serves exclusively as an air command post (it was designed to coordinate troops in the event of a nuclear war).
It is also worth noting the Tu-214R - an electronic and optical-electronic reconnaissance aircraft with two radar and side-scan radars (it is planned to enter service next year). It was this “bird” that was sighted over the Sea of Japan in early December 2012.
Finally, the new Tu-214ON is an "open sky". A specialized aircraft for aerial surveillance, specially created within the framework of the international treaty on open skies for flights in the airspace of the countries participating in the treaty. The on-board aviation surveillance complex includes side-looking radar, infrared cameras and aerial photography equipment. There are workplaces for 5 operators.
However, all this bears little resemblance to the E-8 long-range target designation and control combat aircraft. And who knows, maybe while you are reading this text, the cameras of the G-Stars plane flying near the Russian border are peering into your window with intent interest.
