RAF E-3D Sentry Northrop Grumman has completed a complex Mode S upgrade to the Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) interrogator on the S...
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| RAF E-3D Sentry |
The sophisticated IFF interrogator provides a long-range, rapid early warning and detection capability, allowing discrimination between friendly and hostile aircraft. The Mode S system enables the aircraft to be used in controlled airspace.
The work was carried out at RAF Waddington under Northrop's existing Sentry E-3D Whole Life Support Programme (WLSP), and is the most complex of a series of modifications the company has carried out to date for the Sentry aircraft fleet.
Northrop is on contract to provide WLSP until 2025.
The RAF operates six E-3D Sentry aircraft in the airborne surveillance and command-and-control role, operated by No 8 Squadron as the UK’s contribution to the NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control Force.
The E-3D Sentry, known to the RAF as the AEW1, is based on the commercial Boeing 707-320B aircraft, which has been extensively modified and updated to accommodate modern mission systems.
Mission endurance is approximately 11 hours, which can be extended by aerial refuelling.
