Korean Air Force To Acquire 2 more Peace Eye AEW&Cs

[Zarvan]

Peace Eye 737 AEW
Yonhap News Agency reported Sunday.


South Korean Air Force has considered acquiring two more Peace Eye airborne early warning and control aircraft to better regulate and protect the country's Korean Air Defense Identification Zone from all possible intruders


E-737 gives the Air Force better situational awareness and also control over its aerial assets. Besides it provides air force more capacity to gather signal intelligence. The presence of the planes can act as deterrence against the North which does not have similar platforms.

In the past there had only been speculation about increasing the size of the AEW&C fleet, but it has now been 'confirmed' to be part of the long-term acquisition plan.

Though the procurement deadline was not mentioned, the long-term plans usually take some 5 years to get the necessary budget needed to start the project.

The move follows North Korea's fifth nuclear test on Sept nine and its threat to launch preemptive strikes on South Korea and the US.

The more E-737s the South Korea operates, the more convenient it is for the country to keep these planes flying around the clock, even if they have to undergo regular maintenance. South Korea received its first Peace Eye in September 2011, with the fourth plane being deployed in October the following year. The planes are equipped with L-band multi-role electronically scanned array radar.

It has been placed on a "dorsal fin" on top of the fuselage that can scan a full 360 degrees and detect upwards of 1,000 airborne targets at once as well as conduct sea searches.

B-737 twin-engine passenger jet can stay aloft for upwards of 10 hours at a time and are particularly effective at detecting low-flying airplanes that may try to penetrate South Korean airspace by taking advantage of the Korean Peninsula's mountainous terrain.

Already apart from South Korea, Australia and Turkey are using the E-737 as an early warning, aircraft control and battlefield management platform.

http://www.defenseworld.net/news/17..._Acquire_2_more_Peace_Eye_AEW_Cs#.V_tlC9R95kg

 

[C130]

wonder why the U.S hasn't bought any of these?? the E-3 is getting up there in age, and the MESA antenna of the E-737 has some interesting advantages over a rotating one.

http://www.sldinfo.com/from-trouble...wedgetail-and-21st-century-combat-innovation/

And with the challenge of operating in the expanded battlespace, it is not simply a question of management of air assets, but management of the assets operating in the expanded battlespace, regardless if they are air, naval or ground.

The Wedgetail is a key step forward in shaping a 21st century or to use the South Korean characterization “a fifth generation” approach to battle management for evolving combat demands.

The Wedgetail provides for the key function of air traffic control; which will remain important in the 21stcentury battlespace.

But it is designed with the reach rather than range approach characteristic of fifth generation systems; the MESA radar can be dialed up in terms of energy and focused in terms of direction on priority scan areas.

As one Northrop Grumman engineer put it:

“There is a fundamental shift operationally in terms of how one uses the Wedgetail versus the AWACS.

You no longer are limited or defined by a 360 degree rotator.

You are able to configure how much power you want to put into your radar reach; it is configurable to the mission.

The integrated IFF and radar functionality also allows the system to reach much greater than other systems into the battlespace to shape greater situational awareness in the battlespace.

You can put the energy in the mission area where you have the highest priority.”

This allows much greater reach, and is also part of enhanced survivability as well.

This means as well that it can act on demands identified by deployed fifth generation and other aircraft with regard to the areas where extended reach and focus for surveillance needs to be directed.

With the first combat operations initiated in the Middle East, the Wedgetail squadron and the RAAF are evolving not only lessons learned, but shaping demands for the evolution of the software systems within the Wedgetail.

The Wedgetail is one of the first or the first software upgradeable aircraft and built so from the ground up.