NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organization

AWACS: NATO’s 'Eye In The Sky'

NATO owns and operates a fleet of Boeing E-3A 'Sentry' Airborne Warning & Control System (AWACS) aircraft, which provides the Alliance with an immediately-available airborne command and control (C2), air and maritime surveillance and battle management capability. NATO Air Base (NAB) Geilenkirchen, Germany, is home to the 17 NE-3A aircraft.

• Role and responsibilities

  NATO AWACS performs a unique and valuable role for the Alliance by conducting a wide range of missions such as air policing, counter-terrorism, consequence management, non-combatant evacuation operations (NEO), embargo, initial entry, crisis response and demonstrative force operations.

  In recent years, the Force has been increasingly deployed on complex and demanding tactical missions, including among numerous others:

  • support to maritime operations;
  • close air support (CAS);
  • airspace management;
  • combat search and rescue (CSAR);
  • disaster relief; and
  • counter-piracy.

  Critical asset for crisis management

  Since it commenced flight operations in 1982, the NAEW&C Force has proven to be a key asset in crisis-management and peace-support operations.

  Following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, aircraft from the NAEW&CF E-3A Component (at NAB Geilenkirchen) deployed to eastern Turkey to help reinforce NATO’s southern flank. Operation Anchor Guard included monitoring air and sea traffic in the eastern Mediterranean, as well as providing airborne surveillance along the Iraqi-Turkish border. The mission was conducted from August 1990 to March 1991.

  For most of the 1990s, starting in July 1992, aircraft from both the NATO and United Kingdom's AEW&C fleets operated extensively in the Balkans, supporting UN resolutions and Alliance missions in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo during Operation Deliberate Force and Operation Allied Force. AWACS aircraft from the French Armée de L'Air and the US Air Force also helped achieve the objectives of these missions.

  In early 2001, the Force also supported NATO’s defensive deployment to south-eastern Turkey during Operation Display Deterrence.

  In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States in 2001, NAEW&CF aircraft were deployed to the United States to help defend North America against further attacks in Operation Eagle Assist. This represented the first time in Alliance history that NATO assets were deployed in support of the defence of one of its member nations.

  Since 2007, the NAEW&C Force has been used successfully in support of NATO's counter-terrorism activities in the Mediterranean Sea during Operation Active Endeavour, as well as for numerous other high-visibility events.

  In winter 2009, the NAEW&C Force’s E-3D Component deployed for three months in support of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. Subsequently, in January 2011, the E-3A Component also deployed in support of ISAF operations.  Both components were lauded for their impact on improved response times for troops in contact (TIC) situations and combat search and rescue (CSAR) operations.

  Additionally in 2011, during Operation Unified Protector, both components provided crucial battle management functions to Alliance air assets operating over Libya. This included the issuing of real-time tactical orders and taskings to NATO and coalition fighter aircraft, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft, air-to-air refuellers and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). By providing an aerial maritime surveillance capability, the NAEW&C Force also supported Alliance ships and submarines enforcing the maritime arms embargo against Libya. This simultaneous support to air and maritime mission taskings was a first for the NAEW&C Force. In addition, the employment of the NE-3A’s and E-3D’s from the same forward operating base (FOB) represented another first for the NAEW&C Force.

  Protecting NATO Populations

  As a consequence of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, NATO governments have been able to request the air surveillance and control capability of NAEW&C Force to assist with security for major public occasions. These high-visibility events have included the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Greece, the 2004 European Football Championship in Portugal, and the 2006 World Cup Football Championship in Germany, as well as important meetings held by other international organisations. The NAEW&C Force has consistently provided air support to meetings of Alliance heads of state, governmental and non-governmental meetings, and NATO summits.

• Working Mechanism

  ‘Multinationality’ is the key characteristic of the 18-nation NAEW&C Programme Management Organisation (NAPMO). Currently, the full member nations are: Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.

  The United Kingdom exercises participation as a NAPMO member and its fleet of six E-3D aircraft contribute directly to the NAEW&CF. France maintains an observer role and ensures that its E-3Fs remain interoperable with NAEW&CF and the US fleet.

  HQ NAEW&C Force Command is co-located with Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in Mons, Belgium, and exercises operational control over the Force, consisting of two operational components:

  • the NE-3A Component based at NAB Geilenkirchen, which operates the 17 NATO-owned NE-3A aircraft (the squadrons are manned by integrated international crews from 16 nations); and
  • the E-3D Component based at RAF Waddington, United Kingdom, which operates that nation’s six Boeing E-3D aircraft (the component is manned by RAF and exchange personnel only).

  The Force also maintains three forward operating bases in Konya, Turkey; Aktion, Greece; Trapani, Italy; and a forward operating location (FOL) at Oerland, Norway.

  The NAEW&C programme is managed on a day-to-day basis on behalf of the NAPMO nations by the NAEW&C Programme Management Agency (NAPMA), which is located in Brunssum, Netherlands. The agency is staffed both by military officers seconded to the agency and by civilians from the nations participating in the programme. The general manager is responsible to the NATO Secretary General for a number of administrative and personnel matters for the agency.

  How the NAEW&C Force Works

  All NAEW&C aircraft are similar, but have subtle differences as they undergo continuous modernisation. The standard crew for an NE-3A aircraft modified under the NATO Mid-Term (NMT) Programme numbers 16, while the original E-3D employs a standard crew of 17. Whatever the variant, the flight and mission crews are highly-trained men and women whose expertise covers all areas of flying crew, battle management, weapons control, surveillance control, data-link management and the technical aspects of communications, data systems and mission radar.

  Under normal circumstances, the aircraft can operate for up to ten hours, and longer with air-to-air refuelling, at 30,000 feet (9,150 metres). They can detect low-flying aircraft out to a distance of around 250 miles (400 kilometres) and medium-level aircraft out to a distance of approximately 325 miles (520 kilometres).

  The active surveillance sensors are located in the radar dome (rotodome) which makes the AWACS such a uniquely recognisable aircraft. This structure rotates once every ten seconds and provides 360-degree, wide-area primary and secondary radar surveillance coverage. Passive sensors are located on the fuselage and wings.

  One aircraft flying at 30,000 feet has surveillance area coverage of approximately 120,463 square miles (312,000 square kilometres) and three aircraft operating in overlapping, coordinated orbits can provide unbroken radar coverage of the whole of Central Europe.

  The AWACS is able to track and identify potentially hostile aircraft operating at low altitudes, as well as provide fighter control of Allied aircraft. It can simultaneously track and identify maritime contacts, and provide coordination support to Allied surface forces.

  In addition to the active and passive surveillance systems, the NAEW&C fleet also carries extensive avionics equipment for navigation, communications and data processing. It is able to conduct simultaneous real-time datalink operations on Joint Tactical Information Distribution System (JTIDS) Link 16 and Link 11.

  The NAEW&CF previously operated three trainer/cargo aircraft (TCA), which were used primarily for pilot instruction and cargo/passenger transport. As an integral part of the operational fleet, the TCA aircraft could convert rapidly from an all-passenger configuration into an all-cargo configuration or a combination of the two. The TCA aircraft were successfully employed in disaster relief operations such as:

  • the earthquake in Pakistan in 2004;
  • Hurricane Katrina in the United States in 2005;
  • the earthquake in Haiti in 2009; and
  • the flood in Pakistan in 2010.

  The three TCA aircraft were retired from service in 2011. Support to the NAEW&C Force Command is now provided by a contracted commercial Boeing 757 aircraft capable of simultaneously carrying cargo and passengers.

• Evolution

  During the 1960s, it became clear that military aircraft could no longer fly high enough to avoid surface-to-air missiles. To survive in an increasingly lethal air defence environment, hostile aircraft were forced down to near tree-top levels. By the early 1970s, it had become essential for air defences to have the ability to look down with radars to see these low-flying aircraft. To acquire this capability, it was necessary to install radar into an airborne platform.

  The solution came in the form of an Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS), integrated into a militarised Boeing 707 aircraft with a rotating, disk-like rotodome housing a long-range radar attached to its fuselage. In December 1978, NATO’s Defence Planning Committee approved the joint acquisition of 18 Boeing NE-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft to be operated as an Alliance-owned airborne early warning and control capability.

  In addition to the delivery of 18 NE-3A aircraft to the NATO Airborne Early Warning & Control Force (NAEW&CF) between February 1982 and May 1985, the NAEW&C programme included the AEGIS project to upgrade 40 NATO Air Defence Ground Environment (NADGE) sites, stretching from northern Norway to eastern Turkey, to make them interoperable with the NE-3A.

  One of the reasons for the success of the programme was that the North Atlantic Council (NAC) granted organisational, administrative and financial autonomy to NAPMO, establishing it as a production and logistics organisation to implement the programme. The 18 NE-3As were delivered on schedule and under cost estimate with some US$100 million in savings. Part of these savings was used to buy three used 707s and convert them into trainer/cargo aircraft.

• Transformation

  Despite an ever-changing security environment, the NE-3A fleet stays relevant through modernisation programmes, which ensure that it remains a powerful tool for command and control, battle management and both air and maritime surveillance. For instance, the fleet has been part of the NATO Response Force (NRF), a vehicle of Alliance transformation, since the initial NRF activation in October 2003.

  The NE-3A fleet underwent a modernisation programme which included the integration of enhancements to its computers (open system architecture), displays, communications, navigation and target identification systems. This major fleet upgrade was declared  fully operational by the NAEW&C Force Commander in October 2010 and delivers enhancements in nine major functional areas:

  • improved human-machine interface;
  • multi-sensor integration;
  • automated digital communication switching;
  • navigation system improvement;
  • wide-spectrum very high frequency (VHF) radios;
  • ultra high frequency (UHF) satellite communications;
  • additional display consoles; and
  • new identification friend-or-foe (IFF) transponders (with Mode S)
  • new IFF interrogators (with Mode S)

  The Future

  The next phase of enhancements will include an upgrade to the flight deck and the addition of advanced IFF interrogation capabilities, planned to be completed by 2018. These enhancements will allow the Force to continue to meet the operational requirements of NATO’s commanders well into the future.