Air Power 2017

21 ST CENTURY PARTNERSHIPS AIR POWER 2017 75

21 ST CENTURY CAPABILITIES

Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR)

is the vital element that can determine whether or not combat forces

are required. In some cases, it may even make combat unnecessary.

Mike Gething asks Air Commodore Dean Andrew to explain

ISTAR: SEEING

IS BELIEVING

T

he capability to gather the required

intelligence is what concerns the RAF’s

ISTAR Force Commander, Air Commodore

(Air Cdre) Dean Andrew, rather than the

actual aircraft that carry the various sensors used.

“Don’t look at a 1950s aeroplane and say ‘that’s

old’ – the capability that is carried inside it is

state-of-the-art,” he says. He is referring to the

RC-135W Rivet Joint ‘Airseeker’, the RAF’s latest

electronic intelligence (ELINT) and communications

intelligence (COMINT) gathering platform.

In addition to the RC-135W, the RAF has several

other aircraft configured to provide different, but

complementary, elements of the ISTAR collect:

• the E-3D Sentry AEW1, with its AN/APY-
  2 radar system, provides surveillance
  from the earth’s surface up into the
  stratosphere, over land or water;


• the Sentinel R1 has the Airborne Stand-off
  Radar (ASTOR) system with an active
  electronically scanned array (AESA) dual-
  mode surveillance radar, which combines

The RAF’s Sentinel

R1 provides critical

intelligence and

target tracking

information

(PHOTO: SERGEANT

MIKE JONES/

© CROWN COPYRIGHT)