Advisers Propose New Direction For NATO Surveillance Post-AWACS

摘要

NATO should base a future surveillance and command architecture on a distributed network of sensors rather than a single airborne platform alone, a group of trans-Atlantic industry experts has recommended. The proposal comes as alliance officials are mulling their options for watching NATO airspace and managing aerial battles once the 14-plane fleet of Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft - Boeing E-3 Sentry planes commonly known by the acronym AWACS - is retired sometime in the mid-2030s. Until then, NATO is estimated to spend roughly $1 billion on upgrades to the aircraft.