Joint STARS

the eye in the sky

By Colonel Ben

I Robinson,

93rd Air

Control Wing

commander.

One of the US Air Force's newest weapons systems is the Joint surveillance target attack radar system or Joint STARS. The E-8C Joint STARS aircraft has proved itself in war, contingency and peacetime and most people associate it with the 93rd Air Control Wing (ACW) at Robins Air Force Base, Ga. The 93rd ACW was activated at the base on 29 January 1996 and is the only unit in the air force to be equipped with the E-8C. The wing is responsible to the commander of air combat command for the operations, maintenance, logistics, training and combat support of the Joint STARS aircraft. The 93rd ACW projects airpower by providing near-real-time combat information on enemy ground forces, providing continuous ground surveillance of enemy activities and acting as a force multiplier by maximising the use and effectiveness of friendly forces. The wing's focus was three-fold: to stand up; to be ready to respond to any contingency by 1 April 1996; and to build toward initial operation capability (IOC).

At work on the engine of the E-8

P96 Pic B.jpg (9101 bytes)
Console operators on board the E-8

All Photographs courtesy of the 93rd ACW Public Affairs Office

The 93rd ACW accepted its first E-8C production aircraft on 11 June 1996 and since then has pressed forward to accomplish its final goal of declaring IOC. The aircraft, a rebuilt 707 airframe equipped with a phased array radar, single and data-processing equipment, and operations and control subsystems, has been proven in combat. During Operation Desert Storm, two prototype E-8As participated in the battle for Khafii. The joint STARS aircraft provided real-time pictures of Iraqi movements, allowing air strikes to disrupt Iraqi formations and coalition forces to recapture the town.
The test came when the 93rd ACW deployed the aircraft in support of Operation joint Endeavour in October 1996. And on 13 November 1996 the 93rd flew its first operational mission. The deployment featured a production model E-8C and an all blue-suiter contingency Twenty-two aircrew members experienced the operation firsthand when the E-8C received a tasking from the combined air preparations centre in Vicenza, Italy, shortly after arriving in theatre and initiating a training sortie near the area of responsibility. The tasking redirected Joint STARS to monitor suspected movement in an area believed to have contained a cantonment site filled with heavy weapons.As the only near real-time surveillance system available in theatre, Joint STARS was able to provide commanders with on-the-spot results using its high-resolution radar. The radar's imagery allowed Joint STARS operators to spot uncharacteristic movements, then co-ordinate ground and air resources for verifications. This information was relayed to army ground commanders and the CAOC for analysis, dissemination and force protection for troops elsewhere in the region.

Crews soared for 10 to 12 hours each day monitoring areas appointed by the commander of NATO's implementation force. Joint STARS flew 36 operation sorties and 470 flight hours during the two-month deployment. Aircrew members covered 93 per cent of the areas of interest, proving that the E-8 could make a contribution to the command and control of the Bosnia-Herzegovina region. The second production aircraft was accepted during the deployment and flew to Germany a week later as part of the deployment. This was the first time both aircraft from the 93rd sat together on an airfield.
In March 1997, Joint STARS participated in its first training exercise. Called spring thunder, the week-long exercise allowed the wing to test its ability to employ the concepts of readiness and rapid deployment in support of the US Army's advanced warfighting experiment. The annual Paris Air Show followed in June when thousands of visitors toured the aircraft during the nine-day event. After the show, Joint STARS personnel conducted its first-ever interoperability experiment with NATO testing the E-8C's capability to transfer information to NATO ground stations. Joint STARS is a joint army/air force surveillance, targeting and battle management system designed to support warfighting commanders with near-real-time wide-area surveillance and targeting information on moving and stationary ground targets. The system is capable of supporting various air force, army and naval missions simultaneously. It can provide support to battlefield operating systems such as battle command, manoeuvre, fire support, air defence and intelligence. It also can support strategic attack, air interdiction, close air support, surveillance and reconnaissance, special operations, combat search and resource, suppression of enemy air defence and theatre ballistic missile defence missions. Joint STARS can support
operations across the entire spectrum of conflict, from stabilisation and support operations to high-intensity major regional conflicts. The system consists of the airborne segment and the ground station module (GSM), the primary receivers of the Joint STARS imagery. The modules receive imagery via the surveillance control data link. The GSMs also have the capability to talk to the platform via UHF voice and provide two-way data exchange between the ground and aircraft.

The E-8 sits alongside the KC-135. Both aircraft participated in the Spring Thunder exercise at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev

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