[PapaBear3625]

You obviously did not look at the cutaway, the laser fills the 747, it wouldn't even fit on a 707 airframe, let alone leave any rooms for the stuff already on the AWACS.

This is a prototype. Once they get it working better, they will figure out how to make it more compact.

And rather than make it fit in a 707 airframe, I was thinking more of having an AWACS radar attached to a more modern plane ( the cancelled E-10 was supposed to be based on a 767, but they might see about using a 747 as the base for a merged AWACS/laser system)

[El Gato]

And rather than make it fit in a 707 airframe, I was thinking more of having an AWACS radar attached to a more modern plane ( the cancelled E-10 was supposed to be based on a 767, but they might see about using a 747 as the base for a merged AWACS/laser system)

I once worked on a proposal for a new AWACs, it would have had a 3 sided AESA (Active Electronically Steerable Array) radar, a lot more power and gain, and thus detection range,than the current AWACs (needed for stealthy targets), and based on a 747 airframe. It still would have taken up most of the aircraft.

Besides the mission profiles are unlikely to be compatible.