AdjudantThe Hellenic Air Force Takes Delivery of its New Airborne Early Warning & Control Aircraft Equipped by Thales
NEUILLY SUR SEINE, France — The 380 Squadron of the Hellenic Air Force took delivery of its four Embraer-145H AEW&C (Airborne Early Warning & Control) aircraft in an official ceremony on February 12, at the Elefsina Air Force Base near Athens.
The aircraft’s systems were jointly developed by Saab and Thales. Adding to its capacity for advanced detection provided by the airborne radar, the system allows, for the first time ever, high performance data-exchange facilities with NATO standard systems.
This new feature greatly improves the aircraft’s situational awareness by data exchange with all the networked assets – ground stations, or other national or allied AEW & C aircraft. The situational awareness range that the system provides to fighter pilots is much higher than the range of their own onboard sensors. For this reason, the system is a real force multiplier for the Hellenic Air Force’s tactical forces.
The development and acceptance trials of the aircraft included extensive testing of the interoperability through NATO-standard Link 11 and Link 16 datalinks, with Hellenics Forces assets as well as the French Navy’s Charles-de-Gaulle aircraft carrier, French and NATO AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) aircraft, the French Rafale and US F-16 fighter aircraft.
BACKGROUND NOTES:
The AEW&C programme for the Hellenic Air Force involves the supply of four airborne early warning systems, plus a ground segment and the logistic support capabilities required for operational deployment of the systems.
In a full-scale trial conducted after the acceptance tests at the request of the Hellenic Air Force, a Rafale was sent to take part in Link 16 interoperability tests on the AEW&C system. Two AEW&C aircraft from the Erieye programme and a Rafale from the Mont-de-Marsan military flight test centre (CEAM) took part, with various ground stations and aircraft acting as opposing forces. The trial was conducted in Greek airspace on 27 August and successfully demonstrated system operability for functions including voice communications, track exchange, and order transmission and acknowledgement.
Additional tests organised later by the customer with US Air Force F-16s and the same protocol were also successful.
Thales is a leading international electronics and systems group, addressing defence, aerospace and security markets worldwide. Thales’s leading-edge technology is supported by 22,500 R&D engineers who offer a capability unmatched in Europe to develop and deploy field-proven mission-critical information systems. Thales employs 68,000 people in 50 countries with 2007 revenues of EUR 12.3 billion.
http://www.defense-aerospace.com/articles-view/release/3/102839/thales-details-role-in-greek-aew%26c-aircraft-.html
Général de division aérienne
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Général de corps aérien
Général d'armée aérienne
