Carlton Meyer
21st Century Weapons
e-mail May 1998

The advent of the powerful radar held aloft by a long-ranged bomber or transport plane to direct fighter aircraft to command the skies made its debut in the 1971 Indo-Pakistani war, where Soviet Tu-126 "Moss" turboprop aircraft enabled the Indian Air Force's MIG-21 and Folland GNAT fighters to sweep the skies clear of PAF F-86 Sabres and F-104 Starfighters. Unlike a ground radar which misses large areas due to the curvature of the earth, an Airborne radar system "looks down" and has greater coverage.

The U.S. Air Force E-3 AWACS is mounted on a KC-135/707 type jet transport is an airborne radar aircraft that can track all air traffic out to 200 miles. The AWACS directs fighters toward enemy threats where fighters use onboard radar to shoot down enemy bogeys almost 100 miles away. Both the USAF E-3 Sentry and USN E-2C Hawkeye AWACS aircraft are defenseless, so they also require fighter escort for routine air patrol missions.

Since the Air Force and the Navy has missiles which can fly hundreds of miles, there is no reason why an AWACS cannot carry Theater-Wide Air-to-Air Missiles (TWAAM). The AWACS has plenty of external space to mount dozens of missiles. Since the large AWACS is slow to turn, these missiles could be mounted on flat turrets beneath the aircraft so they can be aimed toward a target without turning the aircraft. This would allow an AWACS to fire upon approaching fighters while flying away from the threat.

A TWAAM can be developed from existing missile technology. Accurate long-range radar guidance may be a problem, so a TWAAM may have two stages. A cruise missile guided by the AWACS would carry an AMRAAM missile warhead until the AMRAAMs internal radar detects a target, fires, and detaches from the cruise missile. A heat-seeking Sidewinder warhead could function in the same manner.

TWAAMs would cut out the "middlemen" (e.g. expensive fighters) for most air superiority missions, and can assist with theater missile defense. As a result, some fighter pilots might hate this idea, and do everything possible to block funding for TWAAMs.

FEEDBACK:

"Carlton,
the key benefit is a self-defense capability for AWACS and E-2C Hawkeyes, which are key targets and undefended now. TWAAMs would add to the ability to destroy enemy air power not replace fighters who should be destroying enemy air best: on the ground IDF-6-day war style".

Mike Sparks,
1st TSG (A)

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