Photo By Master Sgt. Duane Duimstra | A 970th Airborne Air Control Squadron E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System...... read more read more
Subscribe
970th Airborne Air Control Squadron and 513th Maintenance Group reserve Airmen from Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma conducted joint training with the 114th Fighter Wing at Joe Foss Field, South Dakota on Aug. 15-16, 2020. The joint training allowed pilots, maintainers and operators of the E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System AWACS to work directly with F-16 pilots and maintainers to maintain mission readiness.
“We’re having to work in a different environment,” said Master Sgt. Chris Parker, an Aircraft Structural Maintainer of the 513th Maintenance Squadron. “This is as close as we can get to being deployed.”
The exercise gave the airmen a chance to work as if they were in a deployed environment. The AWACS aircrew and F-16 pilots got a rare chance to directly interact with each other. The 513th maintainers also got a chance to work in an unfamiliar environment.
The E-3 Sentry AWACS is a modified Boeing 707/320 with a rotating radar dome attached to the top of the aircraft by two 11 foot struts.
“It is a command and control platform that operates anywhere in the world,” said Lt. Col. Matthew Burch, an Evaluator Warfare Officer of the 970th Airborne Air Control Squadron.
The radar provides surveillance that ranges from the ground surface to the stratosphere, as well as in water. The operators are able to transmit the information gathered from the radar to pilots and other allies.
Within their training exercise, the AWACS aircrew members provided and coordinated situational awareness of any and all activity to the F-16 pilots while in flight.
“We’re all still required to be adaptable in whatever environment,” said Burch, “This is a great opportunity to get training for that.”
| Date Taken: | 08.16.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 08.16.2020 14:04 |
| Story ID: | 376098 |
| Location: | SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA, US |
| Web Views: | 134 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, 114th Fighter Wing trains with AWACS Reserve Squadron, by SSgt Taylor Solberg, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
