Boeing upgrades radar on Saudi Arabia's AWACS fleet
NewsMay 23, 2017
OKLAHOMA CITY. Boeing has finished work on a series of upgrades to Saudi Arabia?s fleet of E-3A Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft. Boeing's aim with these enhancements is to improve radar capabilities and reduce repair time for the airborne surveillance fleet by increasing the original equipment?s radar sensitivity and expanding the range for tracking targets.
The upgrades, which Boeing calls the Radar System Improvement Program (RSIP), installed a new radar computer, a radar-control maintenance panel, and new electrical and mechanical software and hardware.
While Boeing engineers and technicians performed the installation and checkout of the first upgraded aircraft at Boeing Field in Seattle, the rest of the aircraft got their upgrades at Alsalam Aerospace Industries in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with support from Boeing engineers, technicians, and a test and evaluation team. The RSIP kit -- manufactured by Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems -- has been installed on AWACS fleets serving the U.S., U.K., NATO, and France.
Boeing originally delivered five E-3A AWACS aircraft and eight refueling craft to Saudi Arabia between June 1986 and September 1987.
