E-9 Surveillance Plane

[-]

cyanide_sunrise2002@reddit

I live near the base that these two operate out of, theyre super cool! During the last checkered flag exercise, one of them flew over really low at the beach i was working on.

[-]

parknasty913@reddit

Not really surveillance, it's primary job is to clear the range for live fire missile testing. Cool airplane though!

[-]

ragingxtc@reddit

Yup, there's a couple of these at Tyndall that make sure that there are no boats within the range. They can also relay scoring telemetry.

[-]

SlavaCocaini@reddit

Hey, do the Army King Airs and the Airforce CRJ/Globals next, always cool to see the commercial jobs doing government work, the Iraqi Falcon with the exocets comes to mind also.

[-]

SuperEtenbard@reddit

The Falcon itself looks like a missile. Is very “pointy” especially the three holer.

Saddam probably saw it and told the military to turn it into a bomber because it looked like a missile.

Very Aladeen of him.

[-]

SapphosLemonBarEnvoy@reddit

When the DoD orders their J-STARS from Wish

[-]

Sprintzer@reddit

Used for range safety mainly, i.e making sure the trajectory of a test missile / plane / rocket / etc is free of any ships or planes.

[-]

ryosuccc@reddit

Its the original dash 8-100, the modern day dash is a substantial stretch

[-]

Outrageous_Cut_6179@reddit

The surveillance aircraft E‑9A Widget is manufactured by Bombardier Inc. (originally developed by de Havilland Canada).

[-]

HumpyPocock@reddit

Ahh interesting, works in the GOMEX providing…

⸱ Range Control and Clearance\ ⸱ A2A Telemetry Support incl Relay

Nb compressed the fact sheet as best I could, distilled it down to just the tasty tasty salient details, more or less…

⸱ E-9A WIDGET via USAF\ ⸱ APS-143(v) Radar via Forecast Intl

E-9A WIDGET is a twin turboprop used as a surveillance platform, providing airborne ocean surface surveillance plus telemetry recording and relay, to ensure the GOMEX is clear civilian boaters and aircraft during live missile launches and other hazardous military activities. Also supports A2A weapons system evaluation, development, and operational testing DoD’s sole E-9A WIDGET resides with 82nd Aerial Targets Sqn under the 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group at Tyndall AFB.

Modified with an APS-143(v)1 Airborne Sea Surveillance Radar to detect objects in the GOMEX, this telemetry data is downlinked to the Range Safety Officer who determines the shoot area for live-fire activity, the WIDGET receives and records telemetry via a fixed antenna array from test and drone vehicles over the GOMEX and is capable of relaying two airborne UHF frequencies over the horizon to ground sites.

[-]