English: An E-3D Sentry aircraft from 8 Squadron, Royal Air Force lands in wet weather at RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire. The ISTAR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance ) aircraft was returning from Exercise Taurus Mountain, an exercise designed to practice and put to the test airborne security for the London 2012 Olympics.

The Sentry’s roles include air and sea surveillance, airborne command and control, weapons control and it can also operate as an extensive communications platform.

The RAF operates seven E-3D Sentry aircraft in the airborne surveillance and command-and-control role. The aircraft are based at RAF Waddington, where they are operated by Nos 8 and 23 Squadrons as the UK’s contribution to the NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control Force.

The E-3D also forms one arm of the UK Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) triad of Sentinel R1, E-3D and Nimrod R1 aircraft. Whilst primarily procured as an airborne early warning aircraft, the E- 3D has been extensively employed in the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) role.

The E-3D Sentry, known to the RAF as the AEW1, is based on the commercial Boeing 707-320B aircraft, which has been extensively modified and updated to accommodate modern mission systems. Mission endurance is approximately 11 hours (over 5000nmls), although this can be extended by air - to- air refuelling.

The E-3D is the only aircraft in the RAF’s inventory capable of air-to-air refuelling by both the American ‘flying-boom’ system and the RAF’s ‘probe-and-drogue’ method.

• Organization: RAF
• Object Name: WAD-UNC-20120124-0045-034
• Category: MOD
• Supplemental Categories: Equipment, Aircraft, ISTAR, Sentry
• Keywords: RAF, 8 Sqn, E-3D Sentry, E-3D, Ex Taurus Mountain, Exercise Taurus Mountain, Royal Air Force, Equipment, Aircraft, Surveillance, Sentry, E3D, E3-D, AWACS, Radar, AEW, Air Early Warning, ISTAR, Landing, Runway, Taking Off, Take Off
• Country: United Kingdom