Boeing-AFI Complete First Mid-LIfe Upgrade of French E-3F AWACS Aircraft

photo: Boeing  Boeing and Air France Industries have successfully completed the Mid-Life Upgrade of the first of French Air Force fleet o...

photo: Boeing

 Boeing and Air France Industries have successfully completed the Mid-Life Upgrade of the first of French Air Force fleet of four E-3F Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircrafts.

The upgrade is based on the U.S. AWACS Block 40/45 system, which dramatically enhances the potential for network-enabled operations; increases mission execution capability, reliability and effectiveness; and reduces life-cycle costs. prime contractor.
Based on the Boeing 707 commercial jetliner, it provides all-weather surveillance, command, control and communications using the distinctive rotating radar dome above the fuselage and onboard mission consoles. The aircraft now will undergo ground and flight tests at Avord Air Base before being delivered to the French Air Force later this year once qualified by DGA.

The $382 million upgrade is part of a Foreign Military Sale in 2010 between France’s Direction Générale de l'Armement (DGA) and the U.S. government.

The upgrade will include: A primary AWACS display, which increases situational awareness through its intuitive interface and detailed map database, Upgraded Identification Friend or Foe Interrogation including Mode S and Mode 5 capability, An increase in the number of mission consoles aboard each aircraft, from 10 to 14, Modern mission computing processing, which enables improved AWACS mission performance through the use of advanced battle management tools such as Automatic Air Tasking Orders and Airspace Coordination Order updates, resource and sensor management, and automated decision aids, Improved combat identification capabilities from integrated sensor and off-board datalinks, The Multi-Source Integration process, which automatically integrates data from on- and off-board sources such as radar, Electronic Support Measures and Link 16, to provide significantly improved tracking capabilities, Digital radio control and management through the new mission computing subsystem, and an open system architecture that enables rapid software upgrades and requires less hardware.

While the first AWACS aircraft was housed at the AFI KLM E&M site at Le Bourget Airport near Paris, the three other AWACS aircraft will be upgraded in a new facility owned by AFI KLM E&M at Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris. A dedicated Boeing team will continue to provide on-site leadership, engineering, quality assurance support, hardware and software while working together with the Air France Industries modification team.