Joint STARS airmen complete 100K combat hour milestone, make Air Force history in AFCENT

Boeing 707 E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System aircraft were once commercial airliners before being modified for Air Force ISR and C2 missions. In late May 2015 the Joint STARS reached a milestone that will go into history forever along with the men and women who were part of it.  

The E-8C JSTARS and its active duty, guard and reserve service members began flying missions overseas to support both ongoing and concluded operations in 2001.  During this time JSTARS completed 100 thousand combat hours (equivalent to 11.4 years of continuous flight). This was not completed in a consecutive time frame beginning in 2001; several missions required multiple sorties to be flown at once, with each mission lasting from about 7-14 hours.

“That’s 14 years of continuous deployments, having ready crews, great maintenance, great support for the aircraft, for as old as they are , care still safe and can fly, and do what they were designed to do,” said Senior Mission Crew Commander. “The operators onboard make sure equipment works; we are engaged in the fight, and communicating with Combined Air and Space Operations Center to support the mission.”

The JSTARS airmen at Al Udeid perform on an airborne battle management, command and control, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platform that supports all services throughout the AOR. As they survey the area of reasonability, information is collected through other ISR platforms and their sensors, and then the crew relays critical movement or information to the command in which they are supporting for further decisions.

Keeping a consistent airborne presence to complete the 100,000 combat hours milestone was a team effort backed by total force integration. Joint STARS is embodied by active, guard, reserve service member. This includes pilots, maintenance crews, and communications specialists, along with mission essential personnel.  

“The Air National Guard came into the mission in October 2002,” said Senior Mission Crew Commander. “That helped us out; it gave a little bit more of support, with active duty and guard working side by side, on the same platform and the same missions in the air.”

This integration makes the aircraft property of the Air National Guard with active assets. TFI has helped the JSTARS conduct the mission non-stop since 9/11. With an overlap of experience, the JSTARS commander said he was proud of the airmen and maintenance crews that have supported the E-8C aircraft.

“100k combat flight hours is basically a milestone to demonstrate how successful the program has been,” said the JSTARS Director of Operations.

He also mentioned that in 14 years of flying they were able to keep JSTARS airborne and supporting the fight non-stop. The mission support they provide has enabled air-ground component synergy.  JSTARS will continue contributing over watch support for ground forces to ensure enduring success in the AOR, and the people of JSTARS look forward to yet another 100,000 combat hour in support of ongoing operations worldwide.