iscover
Britain suffered many needless losses during the Falklands conflict due to a lack of AEW. The Royal Navy now operates several modified Westland Sea King helicopters carrying Searchwater radar as used in the dedicated AEW Nimrod. The Royal Navy, and indeed the US Navy, are both currently investigating using airships (see p. 74 March issue) for the convoy/fleet AEW escort role
Why Australia Needs an AEW System
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Why Australia Needs an Airborne Early Warning Capability
In retrospect, 1982 was not a year of major wars. The two more significant conflicts which did occur, though, essentially highlighted some of the most important, yet least publicised aspects of modern warfare – Electronic Warfare (EW) and above all, Airborne Early Warning (AEW). The presence or absence of modern AEW platforms would have radically altered the flow of events, both in the Falklands and during the Invasion of Lebanon. The Royal Navy need not have lost any vessels, whereas Israel could have suffered substantial losses in interdiction aircraft. In light of these events, Australia’s expected purchase of the E-2C appears more sensible than ever before, as AEW is the one capability that Australia lacks and yet sorely needs, even in peacetime.
A closer look at both the Falklands conflict and the Lebanese war will serve to illustrate exactly why AEW is such a pressing need in a modern war; the conclusions one may draw are very convincing.
Operation Corporate –
Britain’s Recapture of the Falkland Islands
When Argentine troops set foot on the British Falkland Islands, in April 1982, Britain was anything but prepared. Britain’s last conventional, catapult fixed-wing carrier, the Ark Royal, was long gone, its complement of supersonic F-4K Phantom air superiority/strike fighters and subsonic Buccaneer S. 2 fighters, together with the obsolete yet functional Gannet AEW. 3 aircraft, having been transferred to the RAF. The Phantoms and Buccaneers, modified, continued in their respective roles, but the Gannets met a sad fate, having been cannibalised to supply the APS-20F surveillance radars for the RAF Shackleton AEW. 2 fleet. As Britain’s economic situation declined into the early eighties, further cuts were suggested. The number of active warships serving in the Royal Navy was to be reduced, to pay for the upgrading of the RN’s seaborne nuclear deterrent. First for the chopping block was Britain’s newest major combat vessel, the light STOVL (short take-off vertical landing) carrier HMS Invincible.
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