Free Republic

This NATO war game went horribly wrong. Ukraine’s drone warfare exposed NATO weaknesses during a major Estonia war game, and the results were brutal. In this video, I break down how just 10 Ukrainian operators simulated the destruction of two NATO battalions, and what that reveals about outdated doctrine and the future of warfare. In May of 2025, NATO ran a major "military exercise" called Hedgehog in Estonia, involving over 16,000 troops from 12 NATO countries. This "wargame" highlighted the critical role of a Ukrainian-Estonian OPFOR unit, leveraging advanced "drones" and the expertise of "Ukraine soldiers" to simulate a mechanized...

Updated: MARCH 29, 2026 20:59 An Iranian strike that wounded US troops at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia also damaged multiple aircraft and likely completely destroyed an E-3 Sentry aircraft. The attack some 60 miles south of the capital of Riyadh in the early hours of March 27 is said to have involved a coordinated precision barrage of at least one Iranian ballistic missile and several attack drones. According to reports, some 10 to 12 American service members were injured in the attack, with at least two in serious condition. The base, a major operating location for US...

A pivotal U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine. The attack injured more than 10 service members, two seriously. Among the other planes damaged are aerial refueling tankers. U.S. Central Command has declined to comment on the incident. Air & Space Forces Magazine has reviewed an image that shows significant damage to an E-3 at Prince Sultan Air Base. The image appears to show one...

Aseismic shift has occurred in the Trump administration’s new defense spending plan that is just emerging when it comes to the USAF’s airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) predicament. The service’s E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft are dwindling in number and rapidly aging into unsupportability. The proven and in-production E-7 Wedgetail, based on the Boeing 737 and serving with multiple allies, was supposed to bridge the gap between the E-3’s retirement and pushing the sending part of the mission to space-based distributed satellite constellations. You can read all about this here. Now, if the administration gets...

Russian military bloggers reported that Ukrainian drones struck a plant in the city that repaired A-50 spy planes, as well as a nearby airfield. The attack came in "several waves," influential channel Fighterbomber wrote on Saturday. Kyiv said it has taken out two of Russia's A-50 aircraft since the new year. In late February, Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine's military intelligence agency, the GUR, said Moscow still had six A-50s remaining. "That's two full shifts. Another A-50 will 'fall' and round-the-clock duty will have to be stopped," the GUR chief added. Earlier this month, the British government...

BERLIN (AP) – Security at a NATO air base in western Germany has been raised because of intelligence information pointing to a “potential threat,” and all staff not essential to missions have been sent home as a precaution, NATO said. The Geilenkirchen air base, near the border with the Netherlands, is where the alliance’s Airborne Warning and Control System, or AWACS, aircraft are based. A post on the NATO AWACS fleet’s account on social media network X late Thursday night announcing that “we raised the security level” did not elaborate on the nature of the potential threat. It said that...

The Navy announced they ‘safely’ recovered the Military plane that overshot the runway and has been stuck in Kaneohe Bay for almost two weeks. Kaneohe Bay (HawaiiNewsNow) -- The Navy announced they ‘safely’ recovered the Military plane that overshot the runway and has been stuck in Kaneohe Bay for almost two weeks. Navy officials say it took meticulous planning and assembling specialized equipment from off island, a multidisciplinary team of military and civilian experts to carefully raise the P-8A Poseidon from the bay. Officials say the operation lasted 13 hours, beginning at 6:30 a.m., Dec. 2. The aircraft was floated...

The U.S. Air Force has contracted Boeing to build the first two of potentially 26 E-7A Wedgetail radar planes. Boeing is to kick off work on the U.S. Air Force’s new airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft, with a contract to develop a version of the E-7 Wedgetail radar plane for the service. The Air Force will use the E-7 to replace at least some of its 31 remaining 707-based E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning And Control System, or AWACS, aircraft, which have been struggling with poor mission-capable rates — the Air Force’s metric that reflects levels of operational readiness....

On Friday and Saturday (8-9 July 2016), the leaders of the 28 NATO Allies and many partner nations will meet for a landmark Warsaw Summit. Together, they will take decisions to enhance the Alliance’s security by strengthening its deterrence and defence, and projecting stability beyond its borders. Allies will agree to deploy four robust and multinational battalions to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, on a rotational basis. A multinational framework brigade in Romania will provide a tailored presence in south-eastern Europe. NATO will also take further steps to improve cyber defences, civil preparedness and to defend against ballistic missile attack...

The plane is meant for detecting and tracking a number of aerial (fighter jets, bombers, ballistic and cruise missiles), ground (tank columns) and surface (above-water vessels) targets, informing command centers about the developments in the air and sea, and directing fighter and strike aviation. It can also serve as a command center itself. The A-50 plane is in essence a giant flying data processing center. It is literally stuffed with equipment which is operated by 10 men. The aircraft can also protect itself by means of electronic warfare. It has an aerial refueling system. The main feature of the aircraft...

When Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) became the 34th vote in favor of the Iran Deal, it was touted as sealing the support for the President Obama’s signature foreign policy initiative. It was fascinating for two reasons. First, that such a major policy was being adopted despite bi-partisan rejection. Second, the analysis started to flow of how the powerful lobbying organization, American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), had lost such a major political battle. More importantly, what will AIPAC do now that the deal has been backhandedly approved? Once the Iran deal was approved by the negotiators many supporters of Israel...

New photos recently emerged of China’s KJ-500 airborne early-warning and control plane. It’s Beijing’s fifth unique fixed-wing AEW&C aircraft. Which is kind of a big deal. While hardly glamorous, these all-seeing planes are incredibly important to any modern air force. They transmit instructions and data — such as the presence of enemy fighters — with their powerful radars and sensors. If an air-to-air battle was an office, AEW&C planes would be the managers. An air force with one of these planes in the air can see far more — and at much longer ranges — than an enemy without one. But by any measure, five different types of...

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan air force on Thursday inducted the advanced China-built Karakoram Eagle AWACS aircraft, capable of detecting hostile aerial and sea surface targets far before ground-based radars regardless of their height. Pakistan Air Force (PAF) said the new aircraft were inducted into its premier No 4 Squadron at ceremony held at an operational PAF base in Karachi. "With the addition of AWACS, Pakistan air defence is now able to look deeper in enemy territory, be it land or sea," the air force said. The Karakorum Eagle Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) can detect aerial as well as sea surface...

Expert lifts lid on surveillance aircraft File photo of Wang Xiaomo taken in May 2011.[Photo/Asianewsphoto] BEIJING - A senior Chinese military scientist has ended years of secrecy on a key type of surveillance aircraft mastered by China, exposing details on the domestic research and manufacture of "airborne early warning and control" (AEWC) systems. Wang Xiaomo, 74, regarded as the "father" of AEWC in China, said that the country has developed a complete AEWC aircraft series with its own technology, the People's Daily reported on Monday. "We're confident of producing more advanced early warning planes with smaller sizes, lower costs, multiple...

Russia’s new AWACS plane enters service A modernized A-50U airborne warning and control system (AWACS) aircraft entered service with the Russian Air Force on Monday, an AF spokesman said. The aircraft has an advanced onboard computer, satellite communication and radar systems, Col. Vladimir Drik said. It now has the capability to detect various types of flying targets, including helicopters, cruise missiles and supersonic aircraft, he said. The Beriev A-50, based on the Ilyushin Il-76 transport, first flew in 1978. It entered service in 1984, with about 40 produced by 1992. The A-50 can track up to 10 fighter aircraft for...

Russia to develop new AWACS plane A-50 Mainstay AWACS aircraft © RIA Novosti. Skryinikov Russia hopes to develop a new airborne warning and control system (AWACS) plane by 2016, Air Force chief Col. Gen Alexander Zelin said on Tuesday. “We are expecting to receive the A-100 aircraft built on the basis of the Il-476 transport plane with the PS-90 engine and extended flight range,” Zelin told reporters in Moscow. The new AWACS plane will have an advanced active phase array capable of detecting and tracking airborne and land-based targets. “We will have the carrier [Il-476] by 2013-2014 and should be...

EMBRAER UNVEILS THE NEW EMB 145 AEW&C PLATFORM DEVELOPED FOR THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT It is the first of three aircraft that will incorporate the DRDO-developed surveillance equipment São José dos Campos, February 21, 2011 – Embraer presented the first of three EMB 145 Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) platforms, today, to representatives of the Indian government at a ceremony held at its headquarters in São José dos Campos, Brazil. Based on the proven Embraer ERJ 145 regional jet, the aircraft features an in-flight refueling system, SATCOM capability, a significant increase in electrical and cooling capacities, and a comprehensive set...

Wedgetail's Radar -- What Was Wrong and What Fixed It Posted by David A. Fulghum at 2/2/2011 3:01 AM CST Australia’s new airborne early warning and control aircraft has arrived, but it is at least four years late. The Australian military was stunned in 2006 to discover that the Wedgetail’s large, futuristic, long-range radar still had both hardware and software problems. The first problem involved the “end-fire” portion of the radar that provides the fore and aft segment of its 360 degree coverage. A long, hollow chamber atop the radar had been carefully shaped to deflect a portion of the...

Former Air Force Secretary Mike Wynne wants the Air Force to get rid of large surveillance and reconnasisance aircraft such as AWACS and JSTARS, which are vulnerable to attack because of their huge radar cross-sections, and take the money saved and shove it into the Joint Strike Fighter program. Wynne made his arguments on the website Second Line of Defense, run by the international defense consultant Robbin Laird. I spoke with Wynne this morning. His essential argument is that large aircraft such as these, while possessing excellent capabilities, are so vulnerable in time of war that the enormous amounts of...

Japan has requested US government approval for the installation and checkout of four kits to upgrade the radars on its Boeing E-767 airborne warning and control system aircraft. Tokyo has already procured four radar systems improvement programme (RSIP) kits, says the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency. The estimated cost of the installation and checkout work of the kits is $119 million, which includes transport of the aircraft to and from Japan, spare and repair parts, support and test equipment, documentation and personnel, it says. The prime contractor for the deal will be Boeing. Japan operates four E-767s, which are essentially...