E-8C Joint Surveillance, Target, Attack, Radar System (JSTARS)

The E-8C Joint STARS is an airborne battle management, command and control, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platform designed to work in all weather conditions to locate, identify, and track ground targets. With a range of more than 150 miles and the ability to cover an estimated 386,100 square miles in a single 8-hour sortie, the joint Army-Air Force program can look deep behind hostile borders to detect and track ground movements while never leaving friendly airspace.  The capabilities of the  Joint STARS system make it effective for dealing with any  emergency, whether real or  future military aggression, international treaty verification, or border violation.

The E-8C is a modified Boeing 707-300 series commercial airframe extensively remanufactured and modified with radar, communications, operations and control subsystems required to perform its operational mission. The most prominent external feature is the 40-foot long, canoe-shaped radome mounted under the forward fuselage that houses a 24-foot long radar antenna. The radar is capable of providing targeting and battle management data to all Joint STARS operators, both in the aircraft and in the Common Ground Stations or CGSs, through secure data links.

These operators, in turn, can call on aircraft, missiles or artillery for fire support. Its multi mode radar system includes: Moving Target Indicator (MTI) with both Wide Area Surveillance (WAS) and sector search for smaller areas; and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) with Fixed Target Indicator (FTI) which can produce photograph like images or maps of selected geographic regions. SAR data maps contain precise locations of critical non-moving targets such as bridges, harbors, airports, buildings, or stopped vehicles. The SAR and FTI capability used in conjunction with MTI and MTI history display allows post-attack assessments to be made by ground or onboard operators following an attack on hostile targets. Joint STARS operates in virtually any weather, on-line, in real-time, and around the clock. The augmented Army-Air Force mission crew can be deployed to potential trouble spot within hours and provide valuable data on ground force movements. Technologically advanced elements of the program include the software-intensive radar with several operating modes; the unique antenna with three receive ports; four high-speed processors capable of performing more than 600 million operations per second, and the associated software. All E-8C aircraft are assigned to the 116th Air Control Wing (ACW) of the Georgia Air National Guard, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. The unit is the first Total Force Wing combining Guard and active-duty airmen from the inactivated 93d ACW into a single unit.
 

General Characteristics

 
Primary Function: Airborne battle management
Primary Contractor: Northrop Grumman Corp.
Power Plant: Four Pratt and Whitney TF33-102C
Thrust: 19,200 pounds of thrust per engine
Length: 152 feet, 11 inches
Height: 42 feet, 6 inches
Wingspan: 145 feet, 9 inches
Speed: Optimum orbit speed 390  510 knots (Mach 0.52  0.65)
Ceiling: 42,000 feet
Maximum Take-off Weight: 336,000 pounds
Range: 9 hours (unrefueled)
Unit Cost: $244.4 million (fiscal 98 constant dollars)
Crew: Flight crew of 4 plus 15 Air Force and 3 Army specialists
           (crew size varies according to mission)
Date Deployed: 1996
Inventory: Total force wing, 15; Reserve, 0