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Focuses on the Royal Air Force (RAF) Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS). Flight tests and training at Alaska's Cope Thunder exercise range; RAF enthusiasm about training in the Alaska ranges; United States and Great Britain's participation in the Cooperative Cope Thunder 1998; Details on the performance of the AWACS in training maneuvers; The author's experience during training exercises.

The article reports on the deployment of the No.5 Squadron with two Sentinel R1 aircraft and two ground systems before the end of 2008. The squadron is comprised of the Royal Air Force (RAF), British Army, and Royal Navy personnel. The Raytheon-built Airborne Stand-Off Radar (Astor) is a modular intelligence-gathering and analysis system with the Sentinel aircraft as its airborne component.

The article presents information on the problems regarding the partnership in the aeronautic industry between Great Britain and the United States. It reflects that while Pentagon claims problems are close to resolution Great Britain finds fault in the U.S. handling of industrial partnership. It observes that the Anglo-American feuding over the Joint Strike Fighter threatens to spill over into the wider transatlantic relationship. Great Britain is leading the assault on Washington over the contentious issue of technology access on the Joint Strike Fighter with other program partners, such as Australia, in support.

This article reports that reconnaissance specialists of Great Britain have admitted that they don't know exactly what's going to happen when the first two airborne stand-off radar or Astor ground-surveillance aircraft are put in the hands of aircrews later this year. There are, of course, the basics, which involve use of various synthetic aperture radar (SAR) modes--including swath, spot and ground moving target indicator (GMTI) and intelligence fusion--to supply intelligence to a combat brigade headquarters about what's moving and emitting on the battlefield around it. The SAR data can be manipulated further to offer change detection, which allows the system to identify what has left or come on to the battlefield, such as mobile air defense or battlefield ballistic missiles. Using GMTI, Astor also can track where those targets of interest go.

The article presents information related to a new network which reduces time for locating high-priority moving objects on the battlefield to seconds. Over the Atlantic Ocean this winter, the U.S. and Great Britain are proving that their command-and-control and intelligence aircraft, by working together, can pinpoint moving targets within seconds, a fraction of the time thought possible until only a few years ago. The targets provided as part of the U.S. Navy's Operation Trident Warrior 2005 exercise included simulated military and terrorist convoys and air defense threats dispersed across the littoral areas of North Carolina. The machine-to-machine links of NCCT and Suter speed the process, and automated decision aids are employed to help analysts learn about a foe, such as how his communications networks are organized, as they monitor and associate a variety of signals.

The article reports on the additional features of the airborne stand-off radar (Astor) system in Great Britain. There is networking of Astor's radar products with intelligence from the Nimrod R1, the Royal Air Force' (RAF) renowned signals and communications intelligence aircraft, and a range of new unmanned aircraft built for both reconnaissance and strike which include Predator, Reaper, and Watchkeeper. Robert Murrett, director of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, noted the importance of gravitometrics and ground moving target indicator.

The article reports that Great Britain's military is assembling a collaborative warfare force for its operations in Afghanistan and elsewhere in the world that parallels the latest technology effort of the U.S. in Iraq. The collaborative warfare is allowing the U.S. military and intelligence agencies to locate, target, and kill key individuals in groups such as Al Qaeda in Iraq, the Sunni insurgency, and renegade Shia militias.

The article reports on a plan of the British Royal Air Force to test a Tornado GR4A aircraft fitted with an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar using U.S. ranges following successful flight trials in Boscombe Down center in England. Dubbed as the Advanced Radar Targeting System (ARTS), it is said that the program is being led by Qinetiq in collaboration with Selex. It is stated that the aircraft will be deployed on Exercise High Rider in the U.S.

Reports the financial aid of the U.S. on the development of radio frequency directed-energy weapon by BAE Systems in Great Britain. Potential of the weapon; Enhancement of the antenna technology; Production of the device on miniaturized packages.

Reports the alliance between the U.S. and Great Britain to combat the unresolved crisis in Iraq. Combination of information and psychological warfare; Repair of the Kurdish-controlled air bases; Retaliatory plans of the government.

Reports on the British Royal Air Force's integration of the C-130J military transport planes to its operations as of August 7, 2000. Problems faced by the air force in deploying the aircraft; Operational benefits offered by the aircraft.

Details the air raids conducted by the United States (US) and Great Britain against Iraq on December 1998. Reaction of Iraq to the raids; Response of the US to the provocations of Iraq; Tests with penetrator warheads conducted by the US Air Force; Success of the coordination between the Air Force and the Navy.

The article reports on technological advances in military intelligence-gathering and analysis, focusing on the sharing of technology by British and U.S. forces. Cutbacks in the British military budget have led to increase cooperation with the American military. Directed-energy weapons such as lasers and microwaves are also discussed.

The article discusses the possibility of the British Royal Air Force to be the first of three Boeing RC-135V/W Rivet Joint electronic intelligence aircraft to replace the capability provided by the Nimrod R1. A Defense Ministry official noted that no sale has been concluded and that Great Britain's expression of interest is purely an administrative measure to facilitate rapid procurement if required.

The article focuses on issues faced by Great Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF) for its key procurement and support funding proposals. The RAF is continuing to count the cost of combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, both in terms of personnel and wear and tear on equipment. Fast jet, tactical and air transport fleet utilization rates are at higher than planned, with the resulting financial and service life implications.

The article deals with the issue of the effectiveness of radars and stealth aircraft. It cites the development of a new generation of stealth that will be seen in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and the U.S. Navy's new Unmanned Combat Air System. It discusses the development of the active electronically scanned array radars by the U.S., French, British and Russian governments.

The article focuses on the development of airborne stand-off radar or Astor for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance use in Great Britain. However, given that the laws of physics apply equally in Great Britain, such non-kinetic effects as intelligence gathering, jamming and production of electronically destructive pulses will be an intrinsic part of the Astor's radar technology, once the proper software and processor modifications are made. The 18-ft. canoe-like fairing beneath Astor's fuselage houses a 14-ft. antenna that could be focused, with the appropriate changes, to concentrate the radar's energy into a single beam. That beam can produce jamming noise, disrupt guidance systems, produce false targets or even damage sensitive electronic components. Because of these capabilities, the radar could be used as a self-defense weapon against air-to-air, surface-to-air or jam-following missiles, or as an offensive capability against enemy aircraft, helicopters or cruise missiles of a size large enough to carry a one-ton warhead, according to some aerospace industry researchers.

The British Defense Ministry intends to use classified unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) research as leverage in negotiating a collaborative program, almost certainly with the U.S. Great Britain is now engaged in high-level contacts about participating in a U.S. UCAV program, potentially along the lines of its involvement with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The U.S.' Joint-Unmanned Combat Air System project is the focus for its UCAV work, and covers the Boeing X-45 and Northrop Grumman X-47 air vehicle demonstrators. While seeking access to U.S. technology developments, it has also been courted by other European states, including France, to take part in a European demonstrator project.

The Great Britain is working toward setting up a joint Predator unmanned aerial vehicle unit with the U.S. British personnel are soon to begin training in using the General Atomics Predator UAV, with the possibility they will then be deployed to form a U.K.-U.S. operations unit in Iraq. Predator unit stationed in the British-controlled area around Basra, at a base in Kuwait or in Qatar where it would be close to the Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC). Both manned and unmanned aircraft have been enlisted in the search, and the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has been testing, in Iraq, both ground-mounted electronic jamming systems and a coherent change detection system for airborne radar.

The Great Britain is being forced to revisit its assumptions to its choice of a Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) variant amid concern over performance aspects of the short takeoff and vertical landing version of the fighter. Worries over weight growth and its impact on the potential performance of the F-35B is resulting in the British Defense Ministry re-examining the rationale for its selection. The JSF will provide the platform for the navy and air force's Joint Combat Aircraft (JCA). The JSF program indicates that work is presently ongoing to review the choice of the F-35B against the alternative U.S. Navy version, the F-35C conventional landing and takeoff platform.