AWACS

Question 1

AWACS Mission

Answer 1

The E-3 AWACS aircraft provides air surveillance, command, control, and communications in a rapidly deployable package to respond to crisis situations or to extend the reach of traditional control systems.

Question 2

AWACS Platform

Answer 2

Boeing 707-320B

767-27C (Japan)

Pratt & Whitney TF33 engine.

Question 3

E3-A

Answer 3

These were the original production models. They used the Westinghouse AN/APY-1 radar and 9 monochrome (green on black) computer consoles for the mission crew

Question 4

E-3B

Answer 4

All USAF E-3As were rebuilt to the E-3B standard during the late eighties with a new mission package that replaced the original 9 consoles with 14 multi-color displays.

AN/APY - 1 (Austere or Adaptive Maritime)

Question 5

E-3C

Answer 5

New build aircraft equipped with everything from the E-3B plus the more capable APY-2 radar. Just nine of these were built.

AN/APY-2 (Full Up Maritime)

Question 6

E-3D / E-3F

Answer 6

Brits / French

Question 7

E-3G

Answer 7

These are USAF E-3B and E-3C aircraft fitted with the block 40/45 upgrade. The core of these upgrades is the replacement of the 1975-vintage IBM 4π central computer with “smart” operator terminals joined in a LAN.

Question 8

E3 Speed

Answer 8

Optimum cruise 360 knots (Mach 0.48)

Question 9

E3 Altitude

Answer 9

~ 30,000 feet

Question 10

E3 Endurance

Answer 10

8 hours without refueling, up to 24 hours with multiple refuelings

Question 11

E3 Radar

Answer 11

E-3B uses the AN/APY-1 radar while the E-3C uses the AN/APY-2 radar

Question 12

E3 IFF System

Answer 12

Modified Mark XII

Question 13

E3 Crew General

Answer 13

The E-3 crew normally consists of 22 aircrew members: 4 flight deck and 18 mission crew

Question 14

E3 Flight Crew

Answer 14

The flight crew is composed of individuals responsible for safe ground and flight operations of the E-3. They are the aircraft commander (pilot), co-pilot, navigator, and flight engineer.

Question 15

E3 Mission Crew

Answer 15

The mission crew is composed of individuals responsible for the command, control, surveillance, communications, electronic, and management functions, to include sensor management, internal and external communications management, and limited onboard systems maintenance.

Question 16

E3 MCC

Answer 16

Mission Crew Commander

The MCC is responsible to the air operations center (AOC) for the safe, efficient, and successful conduct of airpower, as well as providing the battlespace air picture for their platform’s part of the battle. MCCs have many years of experience in C2 operations. Each MCC has four basic responsibilities: execute tactical action decisions, ensure coordination of operational information throughout the theater air control system (TACS), provide threat warning and attack assessment for the E-3, and provide mission crew leadership.

Question 17

E3 ECO

Answer 17

The electronic combat officer (ECO) is responsible for operating the passive detection system (PDS).

ECOs are also the primary ground threat monitor for AWACS. If a Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) is detected and a threat to the E-3, the ECO is responsible to report it

Question 18

E3 ASO

Answer 18

Officer—The air surveillance officer (ASO) is responsible to the MCC for all surveillance functions. He/she ensures that accurate collection, display, and dissemination of surveillance are being conducted. The ASO directs and/or coordinates the identification of all observed activity within the designated AOR.

notify the MCC whenever electronic attack is experienced and coordinate electronic protection actions

Question 19

E3 SST

Answer 19

Senior Surveillance Technician (SST)—The SST assists the ASO supervision of the air surveillance technicians and with managing the data links.

Question 20

E3 AST

Answer 20

Air Surveillance Technicians (AST)—The ASTs are responsible to the ASO for detection, tracking, and identification.

The primary job of air surveillance technicians is to maintain accurate tracking of all symbology and continue to detect any additional air traffic

Question 21

E3 SURVEILLANCE

Answer 21

The primary function of the surveillance section is to: detect, track, identify, and tell.

Question 22

E3 Senior Director

Answer 22

The senior director (SD) is responsible for the effective and efficient application of air power in accordance with the command directives that come from the air operations center and the instructions of the MCC.

Some specific responsibilities will include assigning missions, scopes, and tactical radio frequencies used by AWOs.

Question 23

E3 AWO

Answer 23

Air Weapons Officers—Air weapons officers (AWOs) are responsible for knowing and understanding the capabilities and limitations of aircraft, weapon systems, missiles, C2 systems, and communications in both the friendly and enemy order of battle. AWO duties include controlling aircraft with the specified AOR, coordinating with air traffic control (ATC) agencies, understanding Air Force doctrine and knowing how to execute command directives like the rules of engagement and the air tasking order.

Question 24

E3 Communications System Operator (CSO) and Communications Technician (CT)

Answer 24

The CSO is responsible for fulfilling all flight crew (voice only) and mission crew communications requirements.

The CT is responsible for testing, limited maintenance, and/or replacement of all cryptographic (crypto) and voice capable communications equipment. Also, the CT performs initialization and operation of the HAVE QUICK UHF radios and the Joint Tactical Information Distribution System (JTIDS).

Question 25

E3 Computer Display Maintenance Technician (CDMT)

Answer 25

The CDMT operates and maintains the E-3’s data processing system (DPS).

Question 26

E3 Airborne Radar Technician (ART)

Answer 26

The ART is responsible for the start up, monitoring, maintenance, and shutdown of the mission surveillance radar and IFF systems.

Question 27

E3 Sensors

Answer 27

AWACS has two sensors, radar and PDS

Question 28

AN/APY-1 & AN/APY-2 Radar

Answer 28

klystron-based S-band radars

Central coverage is provided by a pulse Doppler (PD) radar, employing a medium pulse repetition frequency (PRF) rate for increased target resolution and improved determination of Doppler shift from legitimate targets

The PD radar’s transmit and receive beam is vertically scanned (elevation scanned or elscanned [ELSCAN]) to provide altitude measurement of detected targets

Longer range (deep-look) coverage is provided by conventional pulse radar which uses a lower PRF. This radar is called the beyond the horizon (BTH) radar. BTH is a fixed beam; not scanned vertically which means it can give no information about the height of the target.

Question 29

E3 PD

Answer 29

The PD’s main advantage is elimination of ground clutter

Question 30

Range Rate

Answer 30

When will Ṙ be equal to zero? When the target’s heading is tangent to any circle centered on the E-3. Perhaps the easiest way to visualize this is to imagine a line from the E-3 to the track. If the track’s heading is roughly perpendicular to that line (i.e., its wingtip is pointing at the E-3), it has a low range rate and may not be detected.

Question 31

Low Velocity Detection (LVD)

Answer 31

You may choose to look at low range rate targets at the expense of seeing more and more ground clutter

Question 32

Constant False Alarm Rate (CFAR)

Answer 32

CFAR works by sampling the returns within a number of range cells along the same azimuth

The CFAR algorithm will determine the average of the reflected power within these cells and multiply it by some correction factor (Sea, flat land, rolling land, or mountainous land).

ADAPTIVE BIAS

Question 33

Beyond the Horizon (BTH) Radar

Answer 33

conventional low-PRF radar with minimal processing in order to maximize sensitivity. This deep-look is known as BTH radar

BTH has no range rate problem. Targets are displayed regardless of their speed or aspect. And clutter processing is unaffected by terrain. This keeps signal-to-noise ratios high and allows the display of reasonably small targets at great ranges

Question 34

Maritime Radar

Answer 34

This cabinet gives the APY-2 its maritime surveillance capability (MSC) through additional signal processing and the digital land mass blanker (DLMB).

First, sensitivity time control is used to eliminate close-in (<50 miles) sea clutter. Second, pulse compression is increased to further differentiate sea returns from those of highly reflective ships and boats. Finally the DLMB, which is simply a series of precise digital maps loaded on a hard drive, erases the ground echoes created by land masses

Question 35

E3 Sectoring

Answer 35

These seven may consist of up to six “moving” (moving with the E-3) and up to four “fixed” (fixed over a particular geographic location, such as an enemy airfield) subsectors. Fixed subsectors are still in common use.

Within each sector or subsector, the ASO may select one of 14 different radar modes to provide the best look.

Question 36

E3 Antenna

Answer 36

tilted down 6° at the front to compensate for the angle of attack of the aircraft when flown at “best endurance” airspeed

PLANAR ARRAY

6 RPM (10 s Sweep)

While the radar antenna is electronically steered in elevation, the IFF array pivots up and down mechanically.

IFF opposite Array

Question 37

E3 PDS

Answer 37

AN/AYR-2 Passive Detection System (PDS)–PDS detects and identifies signals from microwave emitters. Detected signals are sorted, assessed, and identified. Identified emitter types are correlated to known host platforms. The PDS display provides a line of bearing (LOB) on the azimuth of the airborne emitters, but no range information.

To give 360° reception, the PDS has an ARFP for each quadrant—one in the nose, one on each side of the aircraft, and one in the tail section

Question 38

PDS Requirements

Answer 38

 PDS detects, analyzes, identifies, and reports friendly, neutral, and hostile airborne, surface, or ground units emitting continuous wave (CW), pulse modulated, or noise modulated signals.

 ID is provided by matching measured signal characteristics with known characteristics stored in the emitter library portion of the emitter database.

 Platform ID is accomplished by associating the ID emitters to their host platforms as stored in the platform section of the database.

 Bearing to the target is determined based on angle of arrival of the signal and is used to triangulate the location of the signal.

 ID and bearing reports are available to the mission computer and may be told over Link-11 and Link-16.

Question 39

AWACS COMMUNICATIONS

Answer 39

consists of a variety of tactical radios, all of which are controlled and tuned by the communications system operator (CSO)

Three AN/ARC229 HF radios –forced-air cooling; they cannot be used until the E-3 is airborne

single AN/ARC 173 VHF-FM

Three complete AN/ARC-210 VHF-AM (VHF #1 is cooled by a self-contained “draw-through” system, so it can be used on the ground. The other two VHF radios) require forced-air cooling.

A total of 20 AN/ARC-168 UHF (SD has 13)

Dorne-Margolin antennas are located on the top of the fuselage for the two UHF SATCOM radios

Question 40

AWACS Links

Answer 40

Link-16 is the primary data link used by AWACS.

Link-11, on both HF and UHF, remains an oft-used data link in peace and in war

USAF AWACS software no longer supports either Link-4 or IJMS.

Question 41

AWACS bases

Answer 41

Tinker AFB, Oklahoma

Kadena Air Base, Japan

Elmendorf AFB, Alaska

NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen, Germany