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Deployed AWACS crew provides critical battle space capabilities

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Alexander Martinez
  • Air Forces Central Command Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  Rows of workstations and machines, dotted with more buttons than one can imagine, click and buzz with activity. The occasional bump of turbulence and the faint howl of the wind outside are the only reminders that this technical workspace is traveling 360 miles per hour at an altitude of 30,000 feet.

It's not a typical military command and control center, if there is such a thing. In fact, it's one of the most effective battle space aircraft in the U.S. Air Force's war fighting inventory.

The E-3 Sentry is an Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft, commonly known in the Air Force as an AWACS. Its crew consists of a specialized team of Airmen that perform missions such as command and control, battle management, surface and airspace surveillance, target detection and radar tracking.

Airman Brian White, an Airborne Radar Technician deployed to the 963rd Expeditionary Airborne Air Control Squadron at a base in Southwest Asia, monitors on-board radar systems to ensure a clean air picture is available to conduct the surveillance and battle management functions of the E-3. His radar picture provides crewmembers important flight information which is relayed to fighters, tankers, and other command and control aircraft.

"It's an important job because [we collect] a lot of information," White, a San Diego, Calif. native said. "It's a lot to maintain, and a lot to monitor in flight. You have to know all the aspects of your job."

White and his crew are deployed from the 964th Airborne Air Control Squadron at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla.

The AWACS crew reports all of its real-time data to the Combined Air and Space Operations Center, and provides an accurate, real-time picture of the battle space to the CAOC.

Its other critical missions include maintaining situational awareness of friendly, neutral and hostile activity, command and control of an area of responsibility, battle management of theater forces, all-altitude and all-weather surveillance of the battle space, and early warning of enemy actions during joint, allied, and coalition operations.

"For us, it's a very important mission because we provide a certain capability that the ground [forces] cannot provide," said Lt. Col. Jin Yoon, mission crew commander, 963rd EAACS. "We have the 'look down' capability to [observe] various targets of interest. We can look further than ground stations."

Yoon, a Rutgers University, N.J., alumni, oversees the AWACS operations in flight. He said while the aircraft's communications specialists, air surveillance officers and technicians are critical to the mission; nothing could be done without the flight crew, including the pilots, navigator and flight engineers.

"We all work as a team," Yoon said. "Without the flight deck we can't have a stable platform in the air to provide command and control."

1st Lt. Ashley Rowell, a 963rd EAACS navigator, is a member of the flight deck. She ensures the pilots know where to go during flight by operating and monitoring navigation equipment, makes sure the crew is on time and prepared for take off and landing, and troubleshoots any deviations from the flight plan.

"The important thing for me is to make sure we're not traveling into any dangerous areas, and to ensure the systems are running well," Rowell, a Lake Forest, Calif., native said.

Their missions usually last between 8 and 10 hours of nonstop flying, with a refueling mission somewhere in the middle. The crew also has to attend pre- and post-mission briefs, which can add an additional 2-3 hours to their day.

Yoon said the days are long and the work is tough, but he's proud of his team.

"I think overall we are a very experienced crew," Yoon said. "We've been together for about three months now, and we have integrated well. [The crew] is doing phenomenal."