The Bombardier E-9A Widget is an American

telemetry Telemetry is the in situ collection of measurements or other data at remote points and their automatic transmission to receiving equipment (telecommunication) for monitoring. The word is derived from the Greek roots ''tele'', 'far off', an ...

support and surveillance plane in service with the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

. It is used as an airborne platform and telemetry relay aircraft providing ocean surface surveillance for

range safety In rocketry, range safety or flight safety is ensured by monitoring the flight paths of missiles and launch vehicles, and enforcing strict guidelines for rocket construction and ground-based operations. Various measures are implemented to protect ...

and target telemetry of missiles fired for over the horizon profiles on the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

Ranges.

History

In the early 1980s, the

began seeking a specialized surveillance plane for the 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group (53rd WEG) which, for the sake of

, needs to ensure

territorial waters Territorial waters are informally an area of water where a sovereign state has jurisdiction, including internal waters, the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone, and potentially the extended continental shelf ( ...

are clear when aerial targets, drones,

missiles A missile is an airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight aided usually by a propellant, jet engine or rocket motor. Historically, 'missile' referred to any projectile that is thrown, shot or propelled towards a target; this u ...

and prototypes are in test flights. The unit was using the large and expensive EC-135N ARIA. A request for proposal was officially issued, proposals included Alenia-Aérospatial ATR-42-200, BAe 748 and Fokker F27-600. However these could not effectively accommodate the large conformal antenna of the AN/APS-128D and thus the newer Canadian Dash 8 won the bid. The aircraft's first flight was done in secrecy in 1987 before entering service the next year in June with the

82nd Aerial Targets Squadron The 82nd Aerial Targets Squadron is a United States Air Force unit. It is assigned to the 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group and stationed at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida. The squadron (aviation), squadron was first activated as the 82nd Pursuit ...

(82nd ATS) out of

Tyndall Air Force Base Tyndall Air Force Base is a United States Air Force Base located east of Panama City, Florida. The base was named in honor of World War I pilot 1st Lt. Frank Benjamin Tyndall. The base operating unit and host wing is the 325th Fighter Wing (3 ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. The planes were immediately put to work on existing development or upgrade programs related to the F-15C/D Eagle, F-16C/D block 52, AIM-9X Sidewinder,

AIM-132 ASRAAM The Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missile (ASRAAM), also known by its United States designation AIM-132, is an imaging infrared homing air-to-air missile, produced by MBDA UK, that is designed for close-range combat. It is in service in the ...

BGM-109 Tomahawk The BGM-109 Tomahawk () Land Attack Missile (TLAM) is an American long-range, all-weather, jet-powered, Subsonic flight, subsonic cruise missile that is primarily used by the United States Navy and Royal Navy in ship and submarine-based land-att ...

and later YF-22, Joint Strike Fighter/F-35 and more. The two E-9As are also used to track aerial target drones used by the 82nd ATS ( BQM-34 Firebee II, MQM-107D Streaker, QF-4 Phantom and QF-16 Fighting Falcon). Since the end of the 2000s, the aircraft have been modernized, the AN/APS-148D radar was replaced by the AW/APS-143(V)-1 which can detect even smaller targets in the Gulf of Mexico such as small boats and small

unmanned surface vehicle An unmanned surface vehicle, unmanned surface vessel or uncrewed surface vessel (USV), colloquially called a drone boat, drone ship or sea drone, is a boat or ship that operates on the surface of the water without a crew. USVs operate with v ...

s. Tests were even conducted with the US Navy to test the E-9's ability to detect submarine periscopes though results were officially not satisfactory. A major concern for the test and evaluation of weapons and aircraft is the presence of foreign spying / intelligence gathering assets.

Use

During live

missile A missile is an airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight aided usually by a propellant, jet engine or rocket motor. Historically, 'missile' referred to any projectile that is thrown, shot or propelled towards a target; this ...

launches and other dangerous military operations, the E-9A, serves as a

surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing, or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as ...

platform to make sure that no civilian

boats A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size or capacity, its shape, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically used on inland waterways s ...

or planes are present in the

seas. At

, the E-9A supports the development, evaluation, and operational testing of air-to-air

weapons A weapon, arm, or armament is any implement or device that is used to deter, threaten, inflict physical damage, harm, or kill. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of activities such as hunting, crime (e.g., murder), law ...

systems by providing essential

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

data about the locations and movement of civilian boats. A person in a life raft may be detected up to 25 miles away in the sea by the aircraft, which is equipped with AN/APS-143(V)-1 Airborne Sea Surveillance

Radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

, which is modified to identify things in the

. The range safety

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

, who chooses the shot location for live-fire operations, receives this telemetry data via

downlink In a telecommunications network, a link is a communication channel that connects two or more devices for the purpose of data transmission. The link may be a dedicated physical link or a virtual circuit that uses one or more physical links or shar ...

. Test and drone vehicles flying over the

provide data to the aircraft's fixed antenna array, which records and receives it. It can transmit two

UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter ...

frequencies from the air to ground locations across the horizon. It is also able to locate drones that have been shot down during a

weapon A weapon, arm, or armament is any implement or device that is used to deter, threaten, inflict physical damage, harm, or kill. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of activities such as hunting, crime (e.g., murder), law ...

testing exercise. The 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group began using the plane in 1988, and since that day it has been providing telemetry and

sea A sea is a large body of salt water. There are particular seas and the sea. The sea commonly refers to the ocean, the interconnected body of seawaters that spans most of Earth. Particular seas are either marginal seas, second-order section ...

surveillance

services to the adjacent

Eglin Air Force Base Eglin Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base in the western Florida panhandle, located about southwest of Valparaiso, Florida, Valparaiso in Okaloosa County, Florida, Okaloosa County. The host unit at Eglin is the 96th Test ...

, as part of the Weapon System Evaluation Programme.

Design

Externally the E-9 Widget heavily resembles other Dash 8 planes. Apart from United States Air Force markings, the main distinguishing feature is the 9.1 meter long antenna of the AN/APS-128D multimode

X-band The X band is the designation for a band of frequency, frequencies in the microwave radio region of the electromagnetic spectrum. In some cases, such as in communication engineering, the frequency range of the X band is set at approximately 7.0� ...

surveillance

conformally mounted on the lower right side of the fuselage. This was later replaced by the AN/APS-143(V)-1 Airborne Sea Surveillance Radar. It can detect a person in a life raft up to 25 miles away. The aircraft has a fixed antenna array that receives and records telemetry from test and drone vehicles flying over the Gulf of Mexico. It can relay two UHF frequencies over the horizon to ground sites. The crew consists of two pilots in the cockpit which is similar to commercial models and two mission operators in the aft fuselage.

Operators

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

*** 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group ****

Specifications

Data from United States Air Force Fact Sheet * Power plant: Two Pratt & Whitney PW-120A turboprop engines * Thrust: 1800 shaft horsepower each (3600 total) * Wingspan: 85 ft. (25.9 meters) * Length: 73ft. (22.28 meters) * Height: 24 ft. 6 in. (7.467 meters) * Weight: 34500 pounds (15.649 kilograms) * Fuel capacity: 5600 pounds (2540 kilograms) * Payload: 697 pounds (316 kilograms) * Speed: 280 mph (.367 Mach) * Range: 1000 miles (1609 kilometers) * Ceiling: 30000 ft. * Cost (modified): 16.5 million dollars * Crew: 4 (two pilots, two mission operators)

References

High-wing aircraft Bombardier Aerospace aircraft Twin-engined aircraft Turboprop aircraft 1990s aircraft United States electronic warfare aircraft {{US EW aircraft

History

Use

Design

Operators

Specifications

See also

References