 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Joint-STARS
| What is Joint-STARS
and what has it to do with Qantas Boeing 707s you might ask. Joint-STARS
is one of those acronyms which the US military are so good at inventing.
It has nothing to do with "Star Wars", the movie or "Star
Wars" the defence system, although it does involve advanced technology.
Joint-STARS (which was originally JSTARS) stands for Joint Surveillance
Target Attack Radar System. Its purely military application is as
an air-to-ground surveillance system designed to locate, classify
and track multiple ground targets in all weather conditions. The "Joint"
part of the acronym reflects the fact that the program was intended
to fulfil the needs of both the US Army and Air Force. As originally conceived, the project was intended to utilise new-build Boeing 707 airframes which were still being produced as the E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft. Unfortunately, budgetary constraints resulted in the choice of decidedly second-hand, high time Boeing 707-320 series airliners which were obtained from multiple sources and designated as E-8. These aeroplanes were completely rebuilt by the prime contractor, Northrop Grumman at facilities in Melbourne, Florida and Lake Charles, Louisiana as well as other sub-contractors. The most notable external feature of the Joint-STARS aeroplane is a phased array radar antenna located in a 12 metre long "canoe" radome mounted under the forward fuselage offset to starboard. Remarkably, of an estimated 22 B707 airframes involved in the E-8 program, the first and third prototypes were former Qantas aeroplanes as were the first five production examples! Why so many former Qantas aeroplanes were chosen is unknown, although it is tempting to suspect that Qantas maintenance standards made them attractive candidates. In reality, all eight aeroplanes had passed through the hands of multiple owners since leaving Qantas service, so their condition could be expected to have deteriorated with the passage of time and the number of owners. However, it is probably reasonable to say that Qantas maintenance standards at least gave them a "head start". Some aircraft which joined the program later came from one-owner sources such as the Canadian Armed Forces (4) and the Luftwaffe (1) although others were multiple owner examples which were delivered originally to airlines such as Pan Am (1), Air France (1), Alia (1), Wardair (1), World (1) and American Airlines (3). Although the program was still in its development stages, two Joint-STARS aircraft (one being the former VH-EAF) were used with some success in Operation Desert Storm in 1991. After further test and evaluation flying, an E-8A and an E-8C were deployed to Bosnia in December 1995 to March 1996. Test and evaluation flying highlighted several shortcomings which were mostly related to the choice of platform (i.e. blame the aeroplane!) It was reported that limited engine power made it difficult to reach the aircraft's normal operating altitude of 36,000 feet, much less the 42,000 feet required by the Joint-STARS mission. It was also found that the aircraft needed a runway length of 11,000 feet when taking-off with a fuel load of 140,000 pounds, whereas the standard NATO runway length was 8,000 feet. These shortcomings resulted in a reduction of aircraft converted from an original concept for as many as 35 to the final production run of 13 aircraft (not including the 3 development aircraft). As early as 1992, it was being suggested that the system should be installed in a more modern airframe such as the Boeing 767-200ER. Nevertheless, the E-8s have continued in service, having been used more recently in Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2002, funding was approved for a 17th production aircraft. The E-8 was originally operated by the 93rd Air Control Wing based at Robbins AFB in Georgia. In 2002 the unit became the 116th Air Control Wing with personnel drawn from active duty and the Air National Guard although still based at Robbins. On 17 December 2008, the former VH-EAA was rolled out at Northrop Grumman's Melbourne, Florida facility after fitment of Pratt & Whitney JT8D-219 engines. After a period of test flying it is expected that the other aircraft will be similarly modified. |
|
USAF
|
TYPE
|
BOEING |
MSN
|
ORIG
ID OWNER |
REMARKS
|
|
-
|
-
|
707-338C |
19628
|
VH-EAH Qantas |
Registered N780JS to Boeing Military or Northrop Grumman but not accepted into the Joint-STARS program. Became TF-IUD and 5A-DTF. At last report was derelict at Tripoli. Registration N780JS was finally cancelled on 05OCT08. (See Issue #5) |
|
86-0416
|
E-8A
|
707-338C |
19626
|
VH-EAF Qantas |
FSD-1/T-1
Prototype ex N770JS Initially EC-18C Delivered AUG87 First Flown 22DEC88 European trials FEB-MAR90 Desert Storm 91 |
|
86-0417
|
E-8A
TE-8A |
707-323C |
19574
|
N8411 American |
FSD-2/T-2
Prototype Initially EC-18C The registration N780JS has been associated with this aircraft but this was either not taken up or is an error. Delivered NOV88 First Flown 31AUG89 European trials SEP90 Desert Storm 91 Broken up by Northrop Grumman at Melbourne FL. |
| 88-0322 | YE-8B | E-6A/YE-8B |
24503
|
- | First
Flown 12JUN90 Sold to Royal Saudi Air Force as 1902 (ex N707UM) |
|
90-0175
|
E-8C
TE-8C |
707-338C |
19621
|
VH-EAA Qantas |
FSD-3/T-3
N526SJ Delivered MAR94 Test bed owned by Northrop Grumman Operation Joint Endeavour, Bosnia OCT96 Named "Eye in the Sky" Fitted with P&W JT8D-219 engines and test flown at Melbourne, Florida on 21DEC08 (Source USAF press release) |
|
92-3289
|
E-8C
|
707-338C |
19622
|
VH-EAB Qantas |
P-1
ex N4131G Delivered 11JUN96 Operation Joint Endeavour, Bosnia OCT96 |
|
92-3290
|
E-8C
|
707-338C |
19295
|
VH-EBV Qantas |
P-2
ex N4115J Delivered 13DEC96 Operation Joint Endeavour, Bosnia DEC96 |
|
93-0597
|
E-8C
|
707-338C |
19294
|
VH-EBU Qantas |
P-3
ex G-EOCO. ex USAF 67-30053 Departed AMARC for Lake Charles 17JUN93 Delivered 98 Suffered a fuel tank over-pressurisation on 13MAR09 and is unlikely to fly again because of internal wing damage. |
|
93-1097
|
E-8C
|
707-338C |
19296
|
VH-EBW Qantas |
P-4
ex N6546L Delivered 98 Operation Enduring Freedom NOV01 |
|
94-0284
|
E-8C
|
707-338C |
19293
|
VH-EBT Qantas |
P-5
ex N2178F Delivered 99 Operation Enduring Freedom NOV01 Named "Problem Child" |
|
94-0285
|
E-8C
|
707-373C |
19442
|
N370WA World |
P-6
ex N760FW ex USAF 67-30054 Departed AMARC for Lake Charles 17JUN93 Delivered 99 Named "Radar Love" |
|
95-0122
|
E-8C
|
707-3D3C |
20495
|
JY-ADP Alia |
P-7
ex USAF 71-1841 Delivered 00 |
|
95-0121
|
E-8C
|
707-321C |
20016
|
N870PA Pan Am |
P-8
ex N770FW, USAF 68-11174 Delivered 00 |
|
96-0042
|
E-8C
|
707-347C |
20319
|
13705 C.A.F. |
P-9 Delivered 30APR91 24SEP05 Extensively damaged by Hurricane Rita at the Northrop Grumman facility at Lake Charles Chennault, LA. (AL 467/7) Repaired and returned to service. |
|
96-0043
|
E-8C
|
707-347C |
20316
|
13702 C.A.F. |
P-10
ex EL-AKT |
|
97-0100
|
E-8C
|
707-355C |
19986
|
F-BJCM Air France |
P-11
ex N707MB Delivered 06AUG01 |
| 97-0200 | E-8C | 707-347C |
20317
|
13703 C.A.F. |
P-12 Delivered 27NOV01 |
|
97-0201
|
E-8C
|
707-347C |
20318
|
13704 C.A.F. |
P-13 Delivered 25APR02 |
|
99-0006
|
E-8C
|
707-307C |
19998
|
10+02 Luftwaffe |
P-14
ex USAF 68-11072 Delivered 19AUG02 |
| 00-2000 | E-8C | 707-396C |
20043
|
CF-ZYP Wardair |
P-15
ex USAF C-137C 85-6973 Delivered 25FEB03 |
| 01-2005 | E-8C | 707-323C |
19382
|
N7567A American A/L |
P-16 Delivered 01MAR04 Named "Jay Pig" |
| 02-9111 | E-8C | 707-323C |
19581
|
N8401 American A/L |
P-17
ex USAF E-18B 81-0896 Delivered 22MAR05 (Source: Northrop Grumman press release) |
VH-EAF
|
VH-EAA
|
VH-EAA
|
VH-EBV
|
VH-EBV
|
VH-EBT
|
VH-EBT
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
This page was developed for the Qantas Foundation Memorial by Ron Cuskelly
|
Issue
|
Date
|
Remarks |
|
5
|
13APR11
|
Some sources state that MSN 19628 (VH-EAH) was scrapped by Northrop Grumman at Melbourne, Florida as N780JS. Photographic evidence that the aircraft is still in Libya as 5A-DTF suggests that the aircraft was not accepted for the Joint-STARS program but instead became TF-IUD and 5A-DTF. Thanks to Jim Tomlinson for pointing out the anomaly. |
|
4
|
25OCT10
|
Major update to reflect the full production of 17 aircraft. Additional information drawn from http://www.targetlock.org.uk/e-8/production.html |
|
3
|
22OCT10
|
Added one image of the former VH-EBV and two images of the former VH-EBT thanks to Jim and Jacob Forst. |
|
2
|
24OCT05
|
Added a reference to 96-0042 (a non-Qantas aircraft) being damaged by Hurricane Rita. |
|
1
|
30MAR05
|
Original issue |