E-9A Crews Ensure Safety During USAF Testing

Air Safety Week, Nov 10, 2008

Tyndall AFB aircrews flying the twin turboprop E-9A help ensure that Gulf of Mexico waters are clear of boats and aircraft during USAF live-fire missile launches.

The E-9A is also used as an airborne surveillance/telemetry data relay aircraft and its aircrews evaluate the total air-to-air capabilities of Air Force fighter aircraft and weapons.

The E-9A is a modified de Havilland Dash 8 modified with a sea surveillance radar and a telemetry antenna to go out and collect data on fired missiles.

There are only two E-9As in the Air Force fleet. Though few in number, the E-9A mission is anything but small, providing support for air-to-air weapons system evaluation, development and operational testing at Tyndall AFB in Florida since 1988.

In the first hour of a mission, the E-9A climbs to 5,500 feet scanning the ocean's surface for boat traffic. The E-9A doesn't direct traffic, it only tracks it, pinpointing and marking positions using sea surveillance radar capable of tracking 20 vessels within a 25 nautical mile radius.

Latitude and longitude of each boat tracked is transmitted by HF radio signals to the range safety officer on the ground who can see all the positions and establish a "shoot box" far enough away for exercise missions to take place.

The E-9A then climbs to 18,000 feet keeping the right side of the aircraft pointing to the action to perform telemetry data collection.

A large telemetry antenna created by Georgia Institute of Technology in 1986 runs along the right side of the E-9A aircraft. The antenna is nearly 30 feet long with a cone range of 120 degrees and can collect data from five different targets. On average, the E-9A collects data about 30 miles away from its target, but the aircraft can be up to 130 miles away from a target.

As a missile approaches its target, it sends off RF radio signals, that data is received, recorded and transmitted to the ground by the E-9A in real time. Due to the curvature of the earth, the E-9A aircrew act like middlemen relaying information to missile data analysts. Telemetry data, such as the missile's reaction to countermeasures, are down linked. This information is then used to write or re-write procedures on how to employ Air Force fighters better against simulated foreign aircraft.

The E-9A can be used for a myriad of operations such as research and development armament tests at Eglin AFB, FL, Navy HARM and Tomahawk weapons evaluation, Army Patriot Missile tests and even search and rescue efforts with the Coast Guard.

E-9As are maintained and operated by King Aerospace, a privately-owned company. Over the next two years, the E-9As are scheduled to undergo a series of digital and hardware upgrades to their sea surveillance and telemetry capabilities. The sea surveillance radar will be enhanced greatly to track 200 contacts with the ability to identify each contact as well as automatically update contact positions during a mission. The telemetry radar capacity will be doubled to track 10 missiles or targets at a time.

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