E-3 Sentry AWACS

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The Boeing E-3 Sentry is an airborne warning and control system (AWACS) aircraft, providing all-weather surveillance, command, control and communications needed by commanders of U.S., NATO and other allied air defense forces. The AWACS is a modified Boeing 707/320 airframe with a rotating radar dome (a rotodome), as seen in this picture.

The rotodome is 30 feet (9.1 meters) in diameter, six feet (1.8 meters) thick, and is held 11 feet (3.33 meters) above the fuselage by two struts. It contains a radar subsystem that permits surveillance from the Earth's surface up into the stratosphere, over land or water. The radar has a range of more than 250 miles for low-flying targets.

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