Airborne Warning and Control Aircraft

Japanese: 空中警戒管制機 - くうちゅうけいかいかんせいき

A large dish-shaped radar is mounted on the back of the fuselage of a large aircraft, and it patrols at high altitudes for long periods of time to detect enemy aircraft early and direct interceptors. Ground radar cannot detect targets beyond the horizon or behind mountains, so bombers and attack aircraft enter at extremely low altitudes. To counter this, airborne early warning aircraft were built that are equipped with radar and watch from the sky. The Japan Air Self-Defense Force has adopted the E2C, which is used on US aircraft carriers, and possesses 13 of them. However, the E2C is small, seats five people, has a flight time of about six hours, causes fatigue for the crew, and is somewhat unreliable. For this reason, the Defense Agency adopted AWACS based on the twin-engine Boeing 767, and ordered a total of four in 1993 and 1994. They were deployed in Hamamatsu in March 1998. It is an expensive aircraft, costing 57 billion yen per unit.

(Toshiyuki Taoka, military journalist / 2007)

Source : "Chiezo" published by Asahi Shimbun Publications Co., Ltd. About Chiezo

Japanese:

大型機の胴体の背に大きな皿型のレーダーを搭載、高空を長時間巡回して敵機の早期発見や迎撃機の指揮をする。地上のレーダーでは水平線の先、山の陰の目標は探知できないため、爆撃機、攻撃機は超低空で侵入する。この対策として飛行機にレーダーを積んで、上空から見張る空中早期警戒機が造られた。航空自衛隊は米空母用のE2Cを採用し13機を保有する。だが、E2Cは小型で5人乗り、航続時間は約6時間、乗員の疲労が激しく信頼性もやや劣る。このため防衛庁は双発のボーイング767をベースにしたAWACSを採用し、1993、94年度に計4機を発注。98年3月から浜松に配備された。1機570億円という高価な飛行機だ。

(田岡俊次軍事ジャーナリスト／ 2007年)

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