E-8C Joint STARS
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The Northrop Grumman E-8 Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) is a
United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
airborne ground surveillance Airborne ground surveillance (AGS) refers to a class of military airborne radar system (Surveillance aircraft) used for detecting and tracking ground targets, such as vehicles and slow moving helicopters, as opposed to Airborne early warning and ...
,
battle management Battle command (BC) is the discipline of visualizing, describing, directing, and leading forces in operations against a hostile, thinking, and adaptive enemy. Battle command applies leadership to translate decision into actions, by synchronizing ...
and
command and control Command and control (abbr. C2) is a "set of organizational and technical attributes and processes ... hatemploys human, physical, and information resources to solve problems and accomplish missions" to achieve the goals of an organization or en ...
aircraft. It tracks ground vehicles and some aircraft, collects imagery, and relays tactical pictures to ground and air theater commanders. The aircraft is operated by both active duty U.S. Air Force and
Air National Guard The Air National Guard (ANG), also known as the Air Guard, is a federal military reserve force of the United States Air Force, as well as the air militia of each U.S. state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the ter ...
units and also carries specially trained
U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
personnel as additional flight crew.


Development

Joint STARS evolved from separate
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
and
Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...
programs to develop technology to detect, locate and attack enemy armor at ranges beyond the forward area of troops. August 2013. In 1982, the programs were merged and the U.S. Air Force became the lead agent. The concept and sensor technology for the E-8 was developed and tested on the Tacit Blue experimental aircraft. The prime contract was awarded to
Grumman Aerospace Corporation The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a 20th century American producer of military and civilian aircraft. Founded on December 6, 1929, by Leroy Grumman and his business partners, it merged in 1994 ...
in September 1985 for two E-8A development systems.


Upgrades

In late 2005, Northrop Grumman was awarded a contract for upgrading engines and other systems."Re-engining the E-8 JSTARS"
. Defense Industry Daily, 23 Mar. 2010. Retrieved:
Pratt & Whitney, in a joint venture with Seven Q Seven (SQS), will produce and deliver JT8D-219 engines for the E-8s. Their greater efficiency will allow the Joint STARS to spend more time on station, take off from a wider range of runways, climb faster, fly higher all with a much reduced cost per flying hour. In December 2008, an E-8C test aircraft took its first flight with the new engines. In 2009, the company began engine replacement and additional upgrade efforts. The re-engining funding was temporarily halted in 2009 as the Air Force began to consider other options for performing the JSTARS mission.


Design

The E-8C is an aircraft modified from the
Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is an American, long-range, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype first flown in 1954, the initial first flew on December 20, ...
-300 series commercial airliner. The E-8 carries specialized radar, communications, operations and control subsystems. The most prominent external feature is the 40 ft (12 m) canoe-shaped radome under the forward fuselage that houses the 24 ft (7.3 m) APY-7
active electronically scanned array An active electronically scanned array (AESA) is a type of phased array antenna, which is a computer-controlled array antenna in which the beam of radio waves can be electronically steered to point in different directions without moving the an ...
side looking airborne radar Side-looking airborne radar (SLAR) is an aircraft- or satellite-mounted imaging radar pointing perpendicular to the direction of flight (hence ''side-looking''). A squinted (nonperpendicular) mode is possible also. SLAR can be fitted with a st ...
antenna. The E-8C can respond quickly and effectively to support worldwide military contingency operations. It is a jam-resistant system capable of operating while experiencing heavy
electronic countermeasures An electronic countermeasure (ECM) is an electrical or electronic device designed to trick or deceive radar, sonar, or other detection systems, like infrared (IR) or lasers. It may be used both offensively and defensively to deny targeting info ...
. The E-8C can fly a mission profile for 9 hours without refueling. Its range and on-station time can be substantially increased through
in-flight refueling Aerial refueling, also referred to as air refueling, in-flight refueling (IFR), air-to-air refueling (AAR), and tanking, is the process of transferring aviation fuel from one aircraft (the tanker) to another (the receiver) while both aircraft ...
.


Radar and systems

The AN/APY-7 radar can operate in wide area surveillance, ground moving target indicator (GMTI), fixed target indicator (FTI) target classification, and
synthetic aperture radar Synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) is a form of radar that is used to create two-dimensional images or three-dimensional reconstructions of objects, such as landscapes. SAR uses the motion of the radar antenna over a target region to provide fine ...
(SAR) modes. To pick up moving targets, the
Doppler radar A Doppler radar is a specialized radar that uses the Doppler effect to produce velocity data about objects at a distance. It does this by bouncing a microwave signal off a desired target and analyzing how the object's motion has altered the f ...
looks at the Doppler frequency shift of the returned signal. It can look from a long-range, which the military refers to as a high standoff capability. The antenna can be tilted to either side of the aircraft for a 120-degree field of view covering nearly 19,305 square miles (50,000 km2) and can simultaneously track 600 targets at more than 152 miles (250 km). The GMTI modes cannot pick up objects that are too small, insufficiently dense, or stationary. Data processing allows the APY-7 to differentiate between armored vehicles (tracked tanks) and trucks, allowing targeting personnel to better select the appropriate ordnance for various targets. The system's SAR modes can produce images of stationary objects. Objects with many angles (for example, the interior of a pick-up bed) will give a much better radar signature, or specular return. In addition to being able to detect, locate and track large numbers of ground vehicles, the radar has a limited capability to detect helicopters, rotating antennas and low, slow-moving fixed-wing aircraft. The radar and computer subsystems on the E-8C can gather and display broad and detailed battlefield information. Data is collected as events occur. This includes position and tracking information on enemy and friendly ground forces. The information is relayed in near-real time to the
US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
's common ground stations via the secure jam-resistant surveillance and control data link (SCDL) and to other ground
C4I Command and control (abbr. C2) is a "set of organizational and technical attributes and processes ... hatemploys human, physical, and information resources to solve problems and accomplish missions" to achieve the goals of an organization or en ...
nodes beyond line-of-sight via ultra high-frequency satellite communications. Other major E-8C prime mission equipment are the communications/datalink (COMM/DLX) and operations and control (O&C) subsystems. Eighteen operator workstations display computer-processed data in graphic and tabular format on video screens. Operators and technicians perform battle management, surveillance, weapons, intelligence, communications and maintenance functions. Northrop Grumman has tested the installation of a MS-177 camera on an E-8C to provide real time visual target confirmation.


Battle management

In missions from peacekeeping operations to major theater war, the E-8C can provide targeting data and intelligence for attack aviation, naval surface fire, field artillery and friendly maneuver forces. The information helps air and land commanders to control the battlespace.Coskuner, Nevin, ''Multimission Aircraft Design Study - Operational Scenarios''
. Air Force Institute of Technology
The E-8's ground-moving radar can tell approximate number of vehicles, location, speed, and direction of travel. It cannot identify exactly what type of vehicle a target is, tell what equipment it has, or discern whether it is friendly, hostile, or a bystander, so commanders often crosscheck the JSTARS data against other sources. In the Army, JSTARS data is analyzed in and disseminated from a Ground Station Module (GSM).


Operational history

The two E-8A development aircraft were deployed in 1991 to participate in
Operation Desert Storm Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...
under the direction of USAF Colonel Harry H. Heimple, Program Director, even though they were still in development. The joint program accurately tracked mobile
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
i forces, including tanks and
Scud A Scud missile is one of a series of tactical ballistic missiles developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It was exported widely to both Second World, Second and Third World, Third World countries. The term comes from the NATO reporti ...
missiles. Crews flew developmental aircraft on 49 combat sorties, accumulating more than 500 combat hours and a 100% mission effectiveness rate. These Joint STARS developmental aircraft also participated in
Operation Joint Endeavor The Implementation Force (IFOR) was a NATO-led multinational peace enforcement force in Bosnia and Herzegovina under a one-year mandate from 20 December 1995 to 20 December 1996 under the codename ''Operation Joint Endeavour''. Background NATO ...
, a
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
peacekeeping mission, in December 1995. While flying in friendly air space, the test-bed E-8A and pre-production E-8C aircraft monitored ground movements to confirm compliance with the
Dayton Peace Accords The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also known as the Dayton Agreement or the Dayton Accords (Croatian language, Croatian: ''Daytonski sporazum'', Serbian language, Serbian and Bosnian language, Bosnian: ''Dejto ...
agreements. Crews flew 95 consecutive operational sorties and more than 1,000 flight hours with a 98% mission effectiveness rate. The 93d Air Control Wing, which activated 29 January 1996, accepted its first aircraft on 11 June 1996, and deployed in support of
Operation Joint Endeavor The Implementation Force (IFOR) was a NATO-led multinational peace enforcement force in Bosnia and Herzegovina under a one-year mandate from 20 December 1995 to 20 December 1996 under the codename ''Operation Joint Endeavour''. Background NATO ...
in October. The provisional 93d Air Expeditionary Group monitored treaty compliance while
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
rotated troops through
Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...
. The first production E-8C and a pre-production E-8C flew 36 operational sorties and more than 470 flight hours with a 100% effectiveness rate. The wing declared initial operational capability 18 December 1997 after receiving the second production aircraft. Operation Allied Force saw Joint STARS in action again from February to June 1999 accumulating more than 1,000 flight hours and a 94.5% mission-effectiveness rate in support of the U.S.-lead
Kosovo War The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that started 28 February 1998 and lasted until 11 June 1999. It was fought by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro), which controlled Kosovo before the war ...
. The twelfth production aircraft, outfitted with an upgraded operations and control subsystem, was delivered to the USAF on 5 November 2001. On 1 October 2002, the 93d Air Control Wing (93 ACW) was "blended" with the 116th Bomb Wing in a ceremony at
Robins Air Force Base Robins Air Force Base is a major United States Air Force installation located in Houston County, Georgia, United States. The base is located just east of the city of Warner Robins, south-southeast of Macon and approximately south-southeast ...
,
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
. The 116 BW was an
Air National Guard The Air National Guard (ANG), also known as the Air Guard, is a federal military reserve force of the United States Air Force, as well as the air militia of each U.S. state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the ter ...
wing equipped with the
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Lancer bomber at
Robins AFB Robins Air Force Base is a major United States Air Force installation located in Houston County, Georgia, United States. The base is located just east of the city of Warner Robins, south-southeast of Macon and approximately south-southeast ...
. As a result of a USAF reorganization of the B-1B force, all B-1Bs were assigned to active duty wings, resulting in the 116 BW lacking a current mission. The newly created wing was designated as the 116th Air Control Wing (116 ACW). The 93 ACW was inactivated the same day. The 116 ACW constituted the first fully blended wing of active duty and Air National Guard airmen. The wing took delivery of the 17th and final E-8C on 23 March 2005. The E-8C Joint STARS routinely supports various taskings of the Combined Force Command Korea during the
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n winter exercise cycle and for the
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enforcing resolutions on Iraq. In March 2009, a Joint STARS aircraft was damaged beyond economical repair when a test plug was left on a fuel tank vent, subsequently causing the fuel tank to rupture during in-flight refueling. There were no casualties but the aircraft sustained $25 million in damage. In September 2009, Loren B. Thompson of the
Lexington Institute The Lexington Institute is a center-right think tank headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, United States. It focuses mainly on defense and security policy. History, staff, and positions The Lexington Institute was founded in 1998 by former U.S. ...
raised the question of why most of the Joint STARS fleet was sitting idle instead of being used to track insurgents in Afghanistan. Thompson states that the Joint STARS' radar has an inherent capacity to find what the Army calls 'dismounted' targets—insurgents walking around or placing roadside bombs. Thompson's neutrality has been questioned by some since Lexington Institute has been heavily funded by defense contractors, including Northrop Grumman. Recent trials of Joint STARS in Afghanistan are destined to develop tactics, techniques and procedures in tracking dismounted, moving groups of Taliban. In January 2011, Northrop Grumman's E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) test bed aircraft completed the second of two deployments to
Naval Air Station Point Mugu Naval Air Station Point Mugu was a United States naval air station near Oxnard, California, which operated as an independent base from 1941 to 2000, when it merged with nearby Naval Construction Battalion Center Port Hueneme to form Naval Base V ...
, California, in support of the U.S. Navy Joint Surface Warfare Joint Capability Technology Demonstration to test its Network-Enabled Weapon (NEW) architecture. The Joint STARS aircraft executed three Operational Utility Assessment flights and demonstrated its ability to guide anti-ship weapons against surface combatants at a variety of standoff distances in the NEW architecture. From 2001 to January 2011 the Joint STARS fleet flew more than 63,000 hours in 5,200 combat missions in support of Operations
Iraqi Freedom {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
,
Enduring Freedom Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) was the official name used synonymously by the U.S. government for both the War in Afghanistan (2001–2014) and the larger-scale Global War on Terrorism. On 7 October 2001, in response to the September 11 at ...
and New Dawn. On 1 October 2011, the "blended" wing construct of the 116th Air Control Wing (116 ACW), combining Air National Guard and Regular Air Force personnel in a single unit was discontinued. On this date, the
461st Air Control Wing The 461st Air Control Wing is a joint Air Force/Army unit flying the E-8 J-STARS aircraft. The wing is assigned to Air Combat Command's Ninth Air Force, and is stationed at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. It was activated on 1 October 2011. O ...
(461 ACW) was established at Robins AFB as the Air Force's sole active duty E-8 Joint STARS wing while the 116 ACW reverted to a traditional Air National Guard wing within the
Georgia Air National Guard The Georgia Air National Guard (GA ANG) is the aerial militia of the State of Georgia, United States of America. It is, along with the Georgia Army National Guard, an element of the Georgia National Guard. As state militia units, the units in ...
. Both units share the same E-8 aircraft and will often fly with mixed crews, but now function as separate units. On 1 October 2019, JSTARS ended its continuous presence in the
United States Central Command The United States Central Command (USCENTCOM or CENTCOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the U.S. Department of Defense. It was established in 1983, taking over the previous responsibilities of the Rapid Deployment Joint Tas ...
(USCENTCOM) areas of responsibility. The 18–year deployment was the second-longest deployment in
U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...
history. In that time, the crews and aircraft flew 10,938 sorties, and 114,426.6 combat hours. On 11 February 2022, the first of four JSTARS out of the remaining 16 operational JSTARS was retired as detailed in the Fiscal Year 2022 National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA). The plane (serial number 92-3289/GA) which was the first to arrive at
Robins AFB Robins Air Force Base is a major United States Air Force installation located in Houston County, Georgia, United States. The base is located just east of the city of Warner Robins, south-southeast of Macon and approximately south-southeast ...
in 1996 has now been transferred to the
309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group The 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (309th AMARG),Offici ...
at
Davis–Monthan Air Force Base Davis–Monthan Air Force Base (DM AFB) is a United States Air Force base southeast of downtown Tucson, Arizona. It was established in 1925 as Davis–Monthan Landing Field. The host unit for Davis–Monthan AFB is the 355th Wing (355 WG) assi ...
. In late 2021 to early 2022, E-8C JSTARS aircraft deployed to Europe during the
2021-2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis In March and April 2021, the Russian Armed Forces began massing thousands of personnel and military equipment near Russia–Ukraine border, Russia's border with Ukraine and in Crimea, representing the largest mobilization since the illegal ...
. 30 years after entering service, it was performing the type of mission it had originally been intended to: monitoring Russian military activity in Eastern Europe, which it did while operating over Ukrainian airspace until the start of the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
in late February 2022.


Future

The Air Force began an analysis of alternatives (AOA) in March 2010 for its next generation ground GMTI radar aircraft fleet. The study was completed in March 2012 and recommended buying a new business jet-based ISR aircraft, such as a version of the
P-8 Poseidon The Boeing P-8 Poseidon is an American maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft developed and produced by Boeing Defense, Space & Security, and derived from the civilian Boeing 737-800. It was developed for the United States Navy (USN). Th ...
, and the RQ-4B Global Hawk Block 40. The Air Force says Joint STARS is in a phase of capability improvements and is expected to remain in operation through 2030. On 23 January 2014, the USAF revealed a plan for the acquisition of a new business jet-class replacement for the E-8C Joint STARS. The program is called Joint STARS Recap and plans for the aircraft to reach initial operating capability (IOC) by 2022. The airframe must be more efficient, and separate contracts will be awarded for developing the aircraft, airborne sensor, battle management command and control (BMC2) system, and communications subsystem. On 8 April 2014, the Air Force held an industry day for companies interested in competing for JSTARS Recap; attendees included
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,
Bombardier Aerospace Bombardier Aviation is a division of Bombardier Inc. It is headquartered in Dorval, Quebec, Canada. Its most popular aircraft included the Dash 8 Series 400, CRJ100/200/440, and CRJ700/900/1000 lines of regional airliners, and the newer CS ...
, and
Gulfstream Aerospace Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation is an American aircraft company and a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics. Gulfstream designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and services business jet aircraft. Gulfstream has produced more than 2,000 ...
. Air Force procurement documents called for a replacement for the Boeing 707-based E-8C as a "business jet class" airframe that is "significantly smaller and more efficient." Indicative specification were for an aircraft with a 10-13 person crew with a radar array and capable of flying at 38,000 ft for eight hours. In August 2015, the Air Force issued contracts to Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman for a one-year pre-engineering and manufacturing development effort to mature and test competing designs ahead of a downselect in late 2017. During the fiscal 2019 budget rollout briefing it was announced that the Air Force will not move forward with an E-8C replacement aircraft. Funding for the JSTARS recapitalization program was instead be diverted to pay for development of an advanced battle management system.


Variants

;E-8A : Original platform configuration.DoD 4120.15L, ''Model Designation of Military Aerospace Vehicles'' ;TE-8A : Single aircraft with mission equipment removed, used for flight crew training. ;YE-8B : Single aircraft, was to be a U.S. Navy E-6 but transferred to the U.S. Air Force as a development aircraft before it was decided to convert second-hand Boeing 707s (1 from a
Boeing CC-137 The Boeing CC-137 was a transport and tanker aircraft which served with the Canadian Forces from 1970 to 1997. The Boeing 707-347C aircraft provided long range passenger transport for the military, VIP transport for government and air-to-air r ...
) for the JSTARS role. ;E-8C : Production Joint STARS platform configuration converted from second-hand Boeing 707s (1 from a CC-137).


Operators

; *
United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
- 17 in service as of Jul. 2018
Air Combat Command Air Combat Command (ACC) is one of nine Major Commands (MAJCOMs) in the United States Air Force, reporting to Headquarters, United States Air Force (HAF) at the Pentagon. It is the primary provider of air combat forces for the Air Force, and i ...
- 1991–present *
461st Air Control Wing The 461st Air Control Wing is a joint Air Force/Army unit flying the E-8 J-STARS aircraft. The wing is assigned to Air Combat Command's Ninth Air Force, and is stationed at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. It was activated on 1 October 2011. O ...
-
Robins Air Force Base, Georgia Robins Air Force Base is a major United States Air Force installation located in Houston County, Georgia, United States. The base is located just east of the city of Warner Robins, south-southeast of Macon and approximately south-southeast o ...
**
12th Airborne Command and Control Squadron The 12th Airborne Command and Control Squadron is a United States Air Force flying unit, assigned to the 461st Air Control Wing, stationed at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. The squadron (aviation), squadron flies the Northrop Grumman E-8 Joint S ...
** 16th Airborne Command and Control Squadron *
Air National Guard The Air National Guard (ANG), also known as the Air Guard, is a federal military reserve force of the United States Air Force, as well as the air militia of each U.S. state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the ter ...
- 2006–present * 116th Air Control Wing -
Robins Air Force Base, Georgia Robins Air Force Base is a major United States Air Force installation located in Houston County, Georgia, United States. The base is located just east of the city of Warner Robins, south-southeast of Macon and approximately south-southeast o ...
**
128th Airborne Command and Control Squadron The 128th Airborne Command and Control Squadron is a unit of the Georgia Air National Guard 116th Air Control Wing located at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. The 128th is equipped with the E-8C Joint STARS. The squadron's first predecessor is th ...


Specifications (E-8C)


See also


References


Citations


Bibliography

*


External links


Northrop Grumman Joint STARS System Information







Joint STARS Re-engine Program Info
{{DEFAULTSORT:Northrop Grumman E-8 Joint Stars E-08 Joint STARS Radar networks E-08 Joint Stars Quadjets
E-8 Joint Stars The Northrop Grumman E-8 Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) is a United States Air Force airborne ground surveillance, battle management and command and control aircraft. It tracks ground vehicles and some aircraft, col ...
Aircraft first flown in 1991 E-08 Joint STARS E-08 Joint STARS