Every modern airforce has Airborne Radar and Command & Control aircraft to not only direct offensive operations – but to also control their air defenses. But these aircraft are not cheap. Up until recently – only the major powers (US, NATO & Russia) could afford a fleet of these highly specialized aircraft.
The Western powers have standardized on the US Boeing E-3 Sentry (based on the Boeing 707 airliner), while the Russian’s based their AWACS on the Ilyusin IL-76 transport, refered to as the Beriev A-50 ‘Mainstay’.
[As technology has advanced and electronics have shrunk - Air Forces have no longer needed the size and capacity of a four engined aircraft. Newer AWACS-type aircraft are based on smaller aircraft - like the Boeing 737 pictured above undergoing shakedown tests before being delivered to the Royal Australian Air Force.]
One of the side affects of the Gulf War (I and II) was that the world saw the effect of a quality command and control system (and what happens when you don’t have one), so many countries have tried to add this capability to their own armed forces.
One of the most watched countries in the world – Iran – had recently upgraded its sole large AWACS aircraft. It was a hand me down IL-76 that originally came from Iraq (before the first Gulf War kicked off several Iraqi Air Force aircraft were ‘evacuated’ to Iran, rather than being shot down by Coalition forces), and was upgraded by the Russian’s last year.
On September 22nd – during a military parade to commemorate the start of the Iran-Iraq war
(1980-1988), the Il-76 AWACS collided in mid-air with one of its escorting F-5 fighters. The collision damaged the right wing & engines on the Il-76, and when the plane tried to make an emergency landing – the radome on top of the fuselage came loose and collided with the plane’s tail causing a catastrophic crash that killed the crew.
You have to wonder how much of Iran’s current bluster (missile tests and disclosure of the 2nd enrichment plant) is due to the fact that their air defenese – with the loss of this aircraft – is severely compromised.
But – taking all of this into account – if this plane is so valuable – why then when one is damaged in a ‘hard landing’ here in the US – the only place you can find any mention of the incident – is on Aviation related web sites [here] and [here] and nothing in the mainstream press.
E-3 Sentry sitting on the runway after a hard landing and fire
If your mail client has trouble displaying the links and pictures above – please visit ThreatAxis and read the entire article on-line – http://www.threataxis.us/2009/10/05/awacs-key-to-t…modern-air-war/
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