(IAI – later Israel Aerospace Industries)
airborne integrated SIGINT system.
Externally, the aircraft is fitted with a long
belly gondola and an antenna pod on the
fin tip together with numerous external
antennas. Even more modified are the two
Eitam CAEW-IAF (conformal airborne early
warning) aircraft which entered service
in September 2007. These carry Elta
Systems’ advanced L-band/S-band airborne
electronically scanned array (AESA) and
airborne early warning (AEW) radars,
advanced data links and fully missionisedinteriors but are externally modified with
large conformal fairings on the fuselage
sides to facilitate 360º surveillance, nose
and tail radomes and a fin-tip antenna.
Orders for four similar CAEW aircraft have
also come from the Republic of Singapore
Air Force and two, modified by IAI, have
been delivered to the Italian Air Force.
Australia will also receive a special missions
G550, modified by L-3 Systems, by the end
of 2017 and the US Navy is to replace its
NP-3D Billboard range monitoring aircraft
with a similar CAEW Gulfstream.NEW GENERATION
In 2008, the company announced it was
developing a brand new flagship, the ultra
long-range Gulfstream G650. While it
followed the familiar design layout, the
G650 was a larger aircraft and it had a new
semi-oval fuselage cross section which
made the cabin 14in (0.36m) wider than that
of the G450 giving eight windows on each
side. It also had a wing which was 6ft 1in
(1.86m) longer and with increased sweep
(36° compared with 27° on previous models).
It had fly-by-wire controls and, from 2014,62 Aviation News incorporating Jets September 2017The PlaneView II cockpit on the G650ER. Photo courtesy of Gulfstream Aerospace Corp.The wide cabin introduced on the G650 has also been incorporated into the G500 and G600. The G500 and G600 are currently in advanced
stages of testing prior to certification. Photo courtesy of Gulfstream Aerospace Corp.58-63_gulfstreamDC.mfDC.mfDC.indd 62 04/08/2017 14:15