Breaking news
British Royal Air Force E-3D Sentry Airborne Early Warning aircraft key part of NATO mission Libya 1308111.
| a | |||
World
Air Force News - United Kingdom |
|||
| British Royal Air Force E-3D Sentry Airborne Early Warning aircraft key part of NATO mission Libya. | |||
The
British Royal Air Force's E-3D Sentry AEW (Airborne Early Warning) aircraft
is a key part of the UK contribution to NATO's Operation UNIFIED PROTECTOR,
the mission to protect Libyan civilians from Colonel Gaddafi's former
regime. |
|||
 A British Royal Air Force E-3D Sentry aircraft in flight (stock image) [Picture: Corporal Paul Saxby, Crown Copyright/British MOD 2002] |
|||
The E-3D provides essential command and control for the various aircraft involved in the operation, sometimes hundreds at a time, and the vital link between those aircraft and NATO's Combined Air Operations Centre in Italy. Squadron Leader Pat Parker is the E-3D detachment commander. He said: "The E-3D is absolutely central to the execution of the air operations plan. The mission sets that the guys get stuck into when they get airborne range across all sorts of things from control of air-to-air refuelling to dynamic tasking and targeting, check in, and force accountability for all the assets in the joint operations area. "The UK operates
the Sentry aircraft as part of the overall NATO AEW force. We're operating
under NATO command and control and we are collocated with the NATO E-3A
aircraft. We have part of the task in each 24 hours and so does the
E-3A. In a typical nine-hour mission the 18-strong crew will be responsible for delivering the whole planned air operation, and for providing surveillance to identify any violations of the no-fly zone. |
|||
 A British Royal Air Force E-3D Sentry (stock image) [Picture: Corporal Paul Saxby, Crown Copyright/British MOD 2003] |
|||
|
Tactical Director Craige Curry describes the work:
"There
are various jobs, all essential to make the mission a success. We need
the technicians to give us the radios, the displays and the radar. The
controllers control all of the tactical air assets to achieve the effects
within Libyan airspace, but also extend their range by controlling tanker
assets, making sure we efficiently manage the tanker plot to get the fast
jets onto the tanker as quickly as possible to maximise their time over
the target area. "We have a period of very intense concentration where the guys are working constantly throughout the on-station period with very little opportunity for respite." But missions are far from typical. No two are alike, and even the length can be unpredictable. Sometimes the E-3D has had to extend its mission, arranging its own air-to-air refuelling. The
Sentry began operating before most nations' aircraft even arrived. Britain
deployed the E-3D to support the evacuation of UK citizens from Libya
at the end of February. Then the aircraft was providing air and surface
surveillance, gathering evidence of Colonel Gaddafi's attacks on civilians
that could be used to make the case for intervention by the United Nations. |
|||
 The British Royal air Force RAF E-3D Sentry Line at RAF Waddington near Lincoln (stock image) [Picture: Senior Aircraftman Andy Stevens, Crown Copyright/British MOD 2009] |
|||
|
Once United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973
was passed, the Sentry was busy gathering information about the disposition
of the Gaddafi regime forces, and when air operations began it moved to
its current role.
Squadron Leader Parker added: "The thing to bear in mind in all of that is the compression of all those phases from the evacuation through to surveillance, through to the opening nights of the campaign, and the sustained high tempo of operations we've got now. "Given that the AEW platform is central to the plan, the agility required of the crews to be able to switch quickly from one phase to the other cannot be underestimated. They've done that well. They've done that very well, in fact. It's a huge achievement for the whole detachment, from the engineers keeping the aircraft airborne to the crews flying the tasks day in and day out." |
|||