NATO will replace its ageing fleet of AWACS surveillance planes, in service since the Cold War in the 1980s, with a militarised version of the Boeing 737 commercial jet, the alliance said on Wednesday, in a deal likely worth billions of euros.
  • AutoTL;DRBEnglish
    1•1 year ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    BRUSSELS, Nov 15 (Reuters) - NATO will replace its ageing fleet of AWACS surveillance planes, in service since the Cold War in the 1980s, with a militarised version of the Boeing 737 commercial jet, the alliance said on Wednesday, in a deal likely worth billions of euros.

    Acting like a flying radar tower, the AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) jets with the distinctive, nine-metre wide radomes on their backs have been NATO’s eyes in the sky since 1982.

    They are capable of monitoring an area of some 300,000 square kilometres (115,000 sq miles), a territory the size of Poland, according to NATO, and can also detect ground targets such as ships.

    The alliance did not specify why it chose to replace its fleet of 14 AWACS planes with only six Wedgetail jets, but it said the new aircraft would have better capabilities and be more expensive than their predecessors.

    Based at Geilenkirchen airbase in Germany, the AWACS fleet has been widely used for NATO surveillance missions along the alliance’s eastern flank in the wake of Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

    In the past, the aircraft supported NATO missions in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq, but also events such as the 2006 World Cup in Germany and summit meetings.

    The original article contains 399 words, the summary contains 208 words. Saved 48%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

    • @Kumabear@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4•1 year ago

      Firstly it’s not a Max version.

      Second, the Australian airforce and Boeing developed this plane together and have already had it in service for many years with fantastic success and reliability.

      I believe the UK RAF also has some in service.

      It’s been operated with many of our allies on joint operations and sometimes with observers as they all knew that their AWACS fleets were in pretty desperate need to be replaced and were accessing it.

      It is by far the most capable platform of this type, and it’s a ready to go mature design that the countries looking to come on board have already been operating along side and supporting in real operations.