[MilCom] AWACS In Trouble?

[Airshowfreak5 at aol.com]

AWACS awaits essential  upgrades
by Staff Sgt. Amy Robinson
Air Combat Command Public  Affairs
 
8/29/2006 - LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE,  Va. (ACCNS) -- "The U.S. Air Force 
JOVIAL Program Office has  closed due to lack of funding." 

To some, the announcement posted on the  Web site may have little or no 
significance, but for those familiar with the E-3  Sentry airborne warning and 
control system, the closure could mean problems for  the future of command and 
control. 

The Air Force's E-3 Sentry, commonly  referred to as AWACS, is a modified 
Boeing 707/320 that provides surveillance,  command and control to U.S., NATO and 
allied commanders. 

In order to  gather both broad and detailed battle information in real time, 
the AWACS  computing system relies on software containing more than 350,000 
lines of JOVIAL  code - a code in need of an upgrade. 

"While state-of-the-art in 1977,  the software design now represents the 
single largest bottleneck in systems  development," said Maj. Brady Ries, Air 
Combat Command E-3 program element  monitor. "Finding JOVIAL programmers is a task 
in itself; however, even if  enough JOVIAL programmers could be found to 
rewrite large blocks of code, the  system architecture design doesn't lend itself 
to changes and is very difficult  to upgrade." 

The E-3 was scheduled to be replaced by Northrop Grumman's  E-10 MC2A, 
however, due to budget restrictions, there's no longer a funded  replacement. 

"It's the only self-contained system with look-down radar,  low-level 
coverage and the mobile Battle Management and Command and Control  capability to 
support 'kick-down-the-door' type operations," said Major Ries.  

Without a projected replacement, an upgrade to the E-3's computing  system is 
necessary, and, is currently in the works. 

The upgrade, known  as the Block 40/45 Modification Program, is the largest 
upgrade in the 20-year  history of AWACS. Not only will Block 40/45 allow 
programmers to upgrade  hardware and software regularly, the program's upgrades 
will also establish a  network for wide-band communications and even enable AWACS 
to integrate  information from the Air and Space Operations Center, Major 
Ries said.  

Although the program is currently in the testing phase, the amount of  time 
it will take to update the entire fleet will significantly impact the cost  of 
the program. 

"Right now, 40/45 is a funded program, but the profile  drags it out so long, 
that it's a very cumbersome program," said John Shelton,  Air Combat Command 
E-3 assistant program element monitor. 

Though the  Block 40/45 upgrade is entering the test phase now, it enters 
limited-rate  production in 2009 and full-rate production in 2012, Mr. Shelton 
estimates it  will be another nine to 10 years before the upgrades are complete. 
 

"That's a long time to drag out an upgrade," Mr. Shelton said. "Again -  it's 
funded now, but it's definitely not an ideal time frame." 

The time  frame Mr. Shelton estimates is not ideal because as the program 
continues, costs  rise. 

"If you install all your airplanes before 2015, then your program  costs stop 
there," he said. "If you keep it out to (2019), everything that  you're doing 
to install, to produce, to manage the program, is extended for four  more 
years." 

In addition to overhead costs to run the program, Mr.  Shelton said the price 
of parts also increases as the number of parts purchased  decreases. For 
example, if a company produces 25 parts a year, that part will be  less expensive 
than if that same company only produces 10 parts per year.  

Another concern with the duration of Block 40/45 is "vanishing vendors,"  
where at some point and time, suppliers stop supporting old equipment because  
there isn't enough demand for it. 

Right now, Master Sgt. Greg Wilson,  E-3 airframe manager, is working on 
replacing one of the aircraft's low-power  filters, which will become obsolete 
within the next seven to eight years. To  combat this problem, Sergeant Wilson is 
preparing to process a modification to  test a similar filter into the 
airframe so there won't be a shortage in 2014.  

"We really have to project a way ahead on parts we're going to have  problems 
with down the road," Sergeant Wilson said. 

Although aircraft  cannibalization may offer cheaper replacement parts for 
some airframes such as  the F-15, the E-3 does not have a similar alternative. 
Because every AWACS in  the Air Force is operational and is scheduled to remain 
operational through  2035, aircraft cannibalization is not an option. 

"The bottom line is: if  we can't maintain and we don't upgrade the systems 
capabilities of the E-3  AWACS, we've created a gap in Air Force combat 
capability," Major Ries  said.