#1670 10 Sqn E-3D Sentry EAW1 print
Description
Squadron Prints Lithograph No. 1670 - 905, E-3D Sentry AEW1, Grupo de Aviación Nº10, IIª Brigada Aérea, Base Aérea Pudahuel, Santiago.
The E-3D Sentry is an airborne warning and control system, or AWACS, aircraft with an integrated command and control battle management, or C2BM, surveillance, target detection, and tracking system. The aircraft provides an accurate, real-time picture of the battlespace. AWACS provides situational awareness of friendly, neutral and hostile activity, command and control of an area of responsibility, battle management of theatre forces, all-altitude and all-weather surveillance of the battle space, and early warning of enemy actions during operations. The Sentry is a modified Boeing 707-320B Advance commercial airframe with a wingspan of 147 feet (45 meters), length 152 feet (46 meters) and a rotating radar dome. The rotodome is 30 feet (9.1 meters) in diameter, 6 feet (1.8 meters) thick, and is held 11 feet (3.33 meters) above the fuselage by two struts. It contains a radar subsystem that permits surveillance from the Earth’s surface up into the stratosphere, over land or water. The radar has a range of more than 250 miles. The radar combined with an identification friend or foe, or IFF, subsystem can look down to detect, identify and track enemy and friendly low-flying aircraft by eliminating ground clutter returns that confuse other radar systems. Major subsystems in the E-3 are avionics, navigation, communications, sensors (radar and passive detection) and identification tools (IFF/SIF). The mission suite includes consoles that display computer-processed data in graphic and tabular format on video screens. Mission crew members perform surveillance, identification, weapons control, battle management and communications functions. The RADAR also equipped with an enhanced Maritime Surveillance Capability (MSC) using Maritime Scan-Scan Processing (MSSP). Wingtip ESM pods and JTIDS data-link system, with numerous multifunctional radios, complete the sensor suite through which information can be fused into a complete Recognised Intelligence Picture. AWACS may be employed alone or horizontally integrated in combination with other C2BM and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance elements of the Theatre Air Control System. It supports decentralized execution of the air tasking order and air combat order. The system provides the ability to find, fix, track and target airborne or maritime threats and to detect, locate and ID emitters. It has the ability to detect threats and control assets below and beyond the coverage of ground-based command and control, or C2, and can exchange data with other C2 systems and shooters via datalinks. The Chilean Air Force operates the E-3D AEW Mk1 in the role of Airborne Early Warning And Control. The “D” version of the E-3 is powered by 4 CFM56-2 turbofan engines developing 24,000 lb thrust. Capable of air-to-air refuelling by both probe/drogue and boom receptacle, this can extend its range and on-station endurance time to well in excess of 12 hours. The E-3D Sentry AEW Mk1 arrived in Chile in July 2022 and was allocated to the “Grupo de Aviación N° 10”, as part of the “IIª Brigada Aérea”, at the “Base Aeréa Pudahuel”, Santiago.