尽管北约的E-3哨兵预警机已服役数十年，但它依然是执行高风险任务的关键空中预警和指挥控制平台。尽管内部设计略显陈旧，但飞机集成了先进的雷达和通信技术，能够远程监测空中和海面目标，并实时向盟军分发数据，为战场指挥官提供关键的态势感知。尽管面临维护和备件的挑战，但通过持续的现代化升级，E-3哨兵在支持东欧安全行动以及监测俄罗斯活动方面发挥着不可替代的作用，直到其最终将被E-7楔尾鹰取代。

✈️ **关键的空中指挥与控制平台**：E-3哨兵（AWACS）是一款经过改装的波音707客机，虽然机龄已高，但其集成的雷达和通信系统使其成为一个高效的空中预警和指挥控制节点。它能够覆盖300英里以上的空域和海面，探测友方或敌方目标，并实时将数据传输给盟军，为指挥官提供重要的战场态势感知能力，不受地形限制。

🌍 **东欧地区安全的关键角色**：自俄乌冲突以来，北约显著加强了对东欧的关注，E-3哨兵在监测俄罗斯活动方面发挥着核心作用。在乌克兰战争初期，这些飞机几乎全天候飞行，执行了支持联盟安全行动的任务，例如在波罗的海地区关键海底基础设施遭到破坏后的监视任务，证明了其在应对地区冲突中的重要性。

🔄 **持续的现代化与升级**：尽管E-3哨兵的外观未有显著改变，但其内部系统经过了多次显著升级，以适应不断变化的技术需求和安全环境。例如，一项10亿美元的现代化项目为其增加了新的通信和网络能力。这些升级甚至要求曾经驾驶过该飞机的机组人员在重返岗位时需要重新培训，以适应大量新增的系统变化。

🔧 **维护挑战与未来展望**：随着飞机使用年限的增加，维护E-3哨兵的后勤工作变得日益复杂，特别是备件的获取面临挑战。尽管如此，机组人员和维护人员正在尽最大努力保持飞机的良好运行状态。北约已计划在2030年代初用波音E-7楔尾鹰取代E-3机队，预计E-3哨兵将在2035年后退役，在此之前，它仍将继续执行任务。

Business Insider got access to a NATO AWACS flight on a mission over Eastern Europe.The aircraft, an E-3 Sentry, is decades old and nearing the end of its service life.But crew members said the aging plane is still a surveillance and command and control workhorse.

NATO AIR BASE GEILENKIRCHEN — Stepping aboard the E-3 Sentry feels a bit like walking into a museum. The modified Boeing 707/320 passenger jet is decades old, and the dated interior is a constant reminder.

But don't let the jet's age fool you. The E-3, an Airborne Warning and Control System, or AWACS, is packed with highly advanced technology that enables it to perform surveillance, communications tasks, and battlefield command and control.

"It's an aging aircraft, but it's still relevant," Capt. Jasper, a Dutch surveillance controller who monitors air and surface activity, explained. Over the past couple of decades, he said, whenever there was a conflict, "the NATO AWACS was always the first one to deploy." In the early days of the Ukraine war, these aircraft were just about flying around the clock.

Business Insider recently flew aboard a NATO AWACS from Geilenkirchen, in western Germany, to the Baltic region and back. The eight-hour surveillance mission was tasked to support an alliance security operation in the Baltic Sea following the sabotage of critical undersea infrastructure.

The modified E-3 began engineering, testing, and evaluation in 1975, and two years later, the first operational aircraft was delivered to the US Air Force. NATO received its first of 17 E-3s in early 1982; 14 planes are operating out of Geilenkirchen Air Base.

During its more than 40 years in service, the Sentry has flown to support missions and conflict operations around the world, including over North America, Europe, and the Middle East. More recently, the NATO alliance has increased its focus on Eastern Europe and monitoring of Russian activity following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

For a "very old aircraft," it is "still very relevant nowadays," said Capt. Jasper, who, like other members of the multinational crew that BI spoke with during the flight, could only be identified by his rank and first name for security reasons.

Every year 'will be more challenging'

While the interior of the E-3 gives off Cold War relic vibes, the aircraft is a highly sophisticated flying radar and airborne command post packed with sensitive technology and computer monitors displaying a range of highly classified information that was sanitized thoroughly before BI was allowed to take a look.

The aircraft is equipped with a large 360-degree rotating radar dome, which can see over 300 miles across the air and surface, and advanced sensors that can detect friendly or hostile objects from far away.

Data collected by the E-3 can then be distributed in real time to allied aircraft, ships, or ground stations, giving battlefield commanders essential situational awareness in war or peacetime. And unlike fixed land-based radars, the aircraft is not restricted by terrain or the curvature of the Earth.

"We have a unique capability," Capt. Jasper explained. "We can fly, we can see a little bit further, we can see a little bit lower, and we can take maritime assets as well."

The E-3 is a flexible command and control platform capable of battle management; it can coordinate with other aircraft — fighter jets, bombers, or tankers — whether during a conflict sortie or just during a training run.

Maj. Ben, an American officer and the AWACS' fighter allocator in charge of coordinating with other aircraft, described the E-3 as a "critical C2 (command and control) node," explaining that "it provides that long reach of a radar for our higher headquarters, as well as communications."

"We have the radar, we have the radios, to be able to reach out at long ranges and communicate, coordinate, and control any aircraft that we can see, and then we can talk to," he said. "We're also able to reach back to higher headquarters and pass along any critical information so they can make better decisions" with that real-time data.

The E-3 doesn't necessarily look any different than it did back in the 1980s, but even though the airframe remains the same, the systems have continuously been updated over the years, explained Dutch Capt. Donny Demmers, a public affairs officer who was permitted to share his full name.

A recent $1 billion final modernization effort, for instance, is intended to provide the AWACS with new communications and networking capabilities, according to a NATO fact sheet.

The E-3's system upgrades over the years have been so significant that Capt. Jasper, who previously flew with the plane from 2010 to 2015, needed to renew his training when he returned in 2022. There had been so many changes.

However, as time goes on, Demmers said the logistics of maintaining the aircraft have become increasingly challenging, especially because production lines are not cranking out readily available spare parts, like the engines.

"It's still safe, but every year we pass, it will be more challenging" to keep the aircraft up to standard, he said.

NATO announced plans in 2023 to eventually replace the E-3 fleet with Boeing's E-7 Wedgetail, a derivative of the US aerospace giant's next-generation 737 aircraft. The first new aircraft is expected to be ready for operational duty by the early 2030s, with the E-3s set to retire after 2035.

But until that day comes, the E-3 crew is more than happy with its performance and believes that the mission will continue on uninterrupted.

"It's still a good jet and we are performing our task. We are fulfilling the higher command's objectives that they're giving us," Capt. Marek, a Polish passive controller who works with the AWACS' advanced sensors, said of the E-3.

"NATO is planning to change the platform," but this process takes time, he said. "So our maintainers, our logistics, are doing their best to keep these jets in that perfect status. And I have no doubts that it will still be an operational jet for many years."