Rare sight: Air Force E-3 Sentrys at the Elephant March

Die US Air Force shared photos of a rare spectacle. Same 7 E-3 Sentrys rolled over the Tinker military base in Oklahoma. The Early warning and surveillance aircraft (AWACS) conducted a “Weather Flush” test. It tests how quickly areas can be evacuated during tornadoes, storms or other weather catastrophes.

Overall, the 552nd Air Control Wing owns 27 E-3 machines, in total, are owned by the Air Force 31. But there are only 60 percent ready to use at any time. At the so-called elephant march were for the test only 7 of it on the tarmac.

The E-3 Sentry has been around since the 1970er– years in operation and based on a rebuilt Boeing 707. The large rotating radome over the fuselage with a range of 375 km.

E3 will be replaced

The E-3 has served in numerous US Army operations. In the Operation Desert Storm She directed the Air Force’s air armada. Also in support of the NATO mission in the earlier Yugoslavia and in the invasion Afghanistan’s she was used.

In the future it should be replaced by the modern E-7 be replaced. The Air Force already has for that 26 machines ordered from Boeing (more here).