NATO Faces AWACS Fleet Shrinkage

NATO’s E-3A fleet is on track to become smaller at a time of increased Russian aggression. Credit: NATO E-3A Force

Dec 1, 2014 Tony Osborne - Aviation Week & Space Technology

Funding shortfall is reducing key NATO surveillance fleet

NATO might be calling on its members to raise their defense spending, but if the alliance’s airborne early warning program is anything to go by, that message may be falling on deaf ears.

For the first time since its formation in the early 1980s, NATO’s Airborne Early Warning and Control Force (AEW&C), also known as the E-3A Component, is facing major cutbacks and a fleet downsizing—at a time when mission tempos are high because of Russian aggression in Ukraine.

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