NORTHROP GRUMMAN E-8 JOINT STARS

TYPE:

• Long-range ground surveillance aircraft.
• Programme name: Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS)

PROGRAMME:

• Contract given to Grumman on September 27, 1985.
• 2 Boeing 707-328Cs acquired from American Airlines and Qantas as EC-18C testbeds. Redesignated E-8A.
• First flight in full Joint STARS configuration: December 22, 1988.
• First flight of second aircraft: August 31, 1989.
• First instantaneous transmission to ground station: August 1989.
• Original requirement of 22 newly built Boeing 707s and 100 ground stations later revised for 20 second-hand Boeing 707s with one used as a permanent testbed by Northrop Grumman.
• Both E-8As were deployed to Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War in December of 1990 along with 6 ground station modules. Accomplished first operational mission on January 14, 1991.
• Temporary USAF unit completed 49 combat sorties/534.6 hours with 100% mission effectiveness rate by the end of the conflict.
• Low-rate initial production contract signed by USAF on April 24, 1994.
• May 1993, authorized first 6 production aircraft at 2 per year. Approval to proceed with full production given by US DoD on September 26, 1996.
• By mid-1996, USAF evaluation discovered structural/hardware/software problems during the modification of initial production aircraft.
• Temporary grounding order was set with problems of fumes in cabin. Transfer of aircrafts to Northrop Grumman for modifications.
• First E-8C completed in December of 1993 and made first flight on March 25, 1994.
• 3 former Canadian Forces Boeing 707s were purchased in 1995 for US$6.8 million.
• MultiStage Improvement Program (MSIP) formulated by 1994. Involved the addition of TADIL-J datalink with dedicated operator's position for monitoring of air threats, followed by 'End Game' radar, IR countermeasures, satellite communications, improved data modem and automatic target recognition.
• June 1997, US$132 million contract given to computer replacement programme taking advantage of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technology to reduce costs. Also includes the integration of new, more powerful central computers, replace signal processors, high-capacity switch and fibre-optic cable for workstation network.

VERSIONS

E-8A:

• Two development aircrafts fitted with consoles for 10 operators, and Pratt & Whitney JT34D-3B engines.
• Returned to Grumman after use in Gulf War for completion of performance testing in 100 sorties and thousands of hours of ground testing.

E-8B:

• Originally proposed production version, based on new-built airframe, F108 turbofan engines, and 15 operator consoles.
• One prototype YE-8B flown in June 1990 without avionics installed.

E-8C:

• Production version with 18 operator consoles (17 operations, 1 navigation/self-defence).
• First E-8C is permanent testbed for Grumman. First operational aircraft fight on August 17, 1995 and delivered on March 22, 1996.

DESIGN FEATURES

• Boeing 707-320C airliner converted with 7.32 m (24 ft) antenna covered by a 'canoe' radome and fairing under forward fuselage for phased-array SLAR.

POWER PLANT

• Four 80.1 kN (18,000 lb st) Pratt & Whitney JT3D-3B turbojets with 320.4 kN (72,000 lb) of thrust.

ACCOMMODATION

• standard mission crew of 21, comprising of pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer, navigator/self-defence suite operator and up to 17 Air Force/Army operators.
• On longer missions, a further 13 replacement crew members can be carried.

AVIONICS

Comms:

• Telephonics multiple intercom net control system.
• Hughes UHF communication system.

Radar:

• Northrop Grumman (Nordan Systems) AN/APY-3 multimode side-looking phased-array I-band radar, scanned electronically in azimuth and steered mechanically in elevation from either side of aircraft.
• Synthetic aperture (SAR) used to detect stationary objects.
• Can interleaf Doppler mode to detect moving targets in Moving Target Indicator/Wide-Area Search (MTI/WAS).
• Coverage is approx. 40,000 km² (15,444 sq miles) per minute, cruising at 9,150 to 12,200 m (30,000 to 40,000 ft)

Flight:

• Litton INS, Collins flight management system.