BRUSSELS, Nov 15 (Reuters) - NATO will replace its ageing fleet of AWACS surveillance planes, in service since the Cold War in the 1980s, with a militarised version of the Boeing 737 commercial jet, the alliance said on Wednesday, in a deal likely worth billions of euros.
Acting like a flying radar tower, the AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) jets with the distinctive, nine-metre wide radomes on their backs have been NATO’s eyes in the sky since 1982.
They are capable of monitoring an area of some 300,000 square kilometres (115,000 sq miles), a territory the size of Poland, according to NATO, and can also detect ground targets such as ships.
The alliance did not specify why it chose to replace its fleet of 14 AWACS planes with only six Wedgetail jets, but it said the new aircraft would have better capabilities and be more expensive than their predecessors.
Based at Geilenkirchen airbase in Germany, the AWACS fleet has been widely used for NATO surveillance missions along the alliance’s eastern flank in the wake of Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
In the past, the aircraft supported NATO missions in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq, but also events such as the 2006 World Cup in Germany and summit meetings.
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