Joint STARS evolved from separate United States Army and Air
Force programs to develop, detect, locate and attack enemy armor at ranges
beyond the forward area of troops. In 1982, the programs were merged and the
U.S. Air Force became the lead agent. The concept and sensor technology for the
E-8 was developed and tested on the Tacit Blue experimental aircraft. The prime
contract was awarded to Grumman Aerospace Corporation in September 1985 for two
E-8A development systems.
In late 2005, Northrop Grumman was awarded a contract for
upgrading engines and other systems. Pratt & Whitney, in a joint venture
with Seven Q Seven (SQS), will produce and deliver JT8D-219 engines for the
E-8s. Their greater efficiency will allow the Joint STARS to spend more time on
station, take off from a wider range of runways, climb faster, fly higher all
with a much reduced cost per flying hour. The Joint STARS is to be used until
2025.
In December 2008, an E-8C test aircraft took its first
flight with the new engines. In 2009, the company began engine replacement and
additional upgrade efforts. But the re-engining funding was temporarily halted
in 2009 as the Air Force began to consider other options for performing the
JSTARS mission.
Design
The E-8C is an aircraft modified from the Boeing 707-300
series commercial airliner. The E-8 carries specialized radar, communications,
operations and control subsystems. The most prominent external feature is the
40 ft (12 m) canoe-shaped radome under the forward fuselage that houses the 24
ft (7.3 m) side-looking APY-7 phased array antenna.
The E-8C can respond quickly and effectively to support
worldwide military contingency operations. It is a jam-resistant system capable
of operating while experiencing heavy electronic countermeasures. The E-8C can
fly a mission profile for 9 hours without refueling. Its range and on-station
time can be substantially increased through in-flight refueling.
Battle management
In missions from peacekeeping operations to major theater
war, the E-8C can provide targeting data and intelligence for attack aviation,
naval surface fire, field artillery and friendly maneuver forces. The
information helps air and land commanders to control the battlespace.
The E-8's ground-moving radar can tell approximate number of
vehicles, location, speed, and direction of travel. It cannot identify exactly
what type of vehicle a target is, tell what equipment it has, or discern
whether it is friendly, hostile, or a bystander, so commanders often crosscheck
the JSTARS data against other sources. In the Army, JSTARS data is analyzed in
and disseminated from a Ground Station Module (GSM).
Radar and Systems
The AN/APY-7 radar can operate in wide area surveillance,
ground moving target indicator (GMTI), fixed target indicator (FTI) target
classification, and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) modes.
To pick up moving targets, the radar looks at the Doppler
frequency shift of the returned signal. It can look from a long range, which
the military refers to as a high standoff capability. The antenna can be tilted
to either side of the aircraft for a 120-degree field of view covering nearly
50,000 km² (19,305 mile²) and can simultaneously track 600 targets at more than
250 km (152 miles). The GMTI modes cannot pick up objects that are too small,
insufficiently dense, or stationary. Data processing allows the APY-7 to
differentiate between armored vehicles (tracked tanks) and trucks, allowing
targeting personnel to better select the appropriate ordnance for various
targets.
The system's SAR modes can produce images of stationary
objects. Objects with many angles (for example, the interior of a pick-up bed)
will give a much better radar signature, or specular return. In addition to
being able to detect, locate and track large numbers of ground vehicles, the
radar has a limited capability to detect helicopters, rotating antennas and
low, slow-moving fixed-wing aircraft.
The radar and computer subsystems on the E-8C can gather and
display broad and detailed battlefield information. Data is collected as events
occur. This includes position and tracking information on enemy and friendly
ground forces. The information is relayed in near-real time to the US Army's
common ground stations via the secure jam-resistant surveillance and control
data link (SCDL) and to other ground C4I nodes beyond line-of-sight via ultra
high frequency satellite communications.
Other major E-8C prime mission equipment are the
communications/datalink (COMM/DLX) and operations and control
(O&C)subsystems. Eighteen operator workstations display computer-processed
data in graphic and tabular format on video screens. Operators and technicians
perform battle management, surveillance, weapons, intelligence, communications
and maintenance functions.
Northrop Grumman has tested the installation of a MS-177
camera on an E-8C to provide real time visual target confirmation.
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