DRAGON 'fires up' for flight

Published Oct. 17, 2014
By Justin Oakes and Tinker AFB Public Affairs
66th Air Base Group Public Affairs

TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- The U.S. Air Force and NATO are undergoing a cooperative development effort -- known as the DRAGON program -- to upgrade the avionics and cockpit displays of the E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft belonging to the 552nd Air Control Wing at Tinker and the NATO E-3s at Geilenkirchen, Germany.

DRAGON stands for Diminishing Manufacturing Sources Replacement of Avionics for Global Operations and Navigation. And just as its name suggests, finding parts for the aging AWACS fleets is a main concern for both the Air Force and NATO.

"The DRAGON modification is the most significant avionics upgrade in E-3 history," said Col. Jay Bickley, 552 ACW commander, "and will ensure we remain ready and able to support combatant commander requirements worldwide."

The flight deck modernization replaces most analog indicators with modern digital multicolor graphical displays. In addition, nearly all of the 1970s avionics are being replaced with updated airspace-compliant subsystems. This modernization also allows for elimination of the navigator, dropping the crew size from four to three, as well as adding a Mode-5 Identification Friend or Foe capability.

All aircraft infrastructure such as engines, airframe and mission systems will remain, but the upgraded E-3 flight deck will host a plethora of new technology currently used by the commercial airline industry.

Digital satellite-based communications, modern flight management system suite architecture and a digital cockpit that includes five glass display screens will offer aircrews easy-to-use and customizable engine, navigation and situational awareness data.

Other new capabilities will include a weather radar that can predict wind shear; an Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System; warnings, cautions and advisories via an Engine Instrument and Crew Alert System and a fully digital flight deck audio distribution system.

In addition to hard-to-find replacement parts, another reason for the AWACS upgrade is the changing national and international regulations for civil airspace.

The International Civil Aviation Organization has imposed new flight mandates that need to be met by 2018. With the flight deck modernization, both U.S. and NATO fleets will meet the mandates and will have broader access to airspace.

"The operational requirement for the DRAGON modification is to allow E-3 AWACS aircraft to transit worldwide and establish operationally desired orbit areas in accordance with new airspace mandates," said Gordon Fitzgerald, 552 ACW director for Requirements. "And it's not just about the flight route. It may be that a route is available, but not at the desired altitude for optimum operations. DRAGON enables and optimizes getting AWACS to the fight and sustaining flight operations."

The Air Force and NATO are progressing together through risk reduction and engineering, manufacturing and development phases, but the organizations will have separate contracts for the production, deployment and operational stages. Boeing, who holds the current EMD contract, installed one digital flight deck and avionics system onto the first NATO aircraft, N-1, and will also install another system into an Air Force test aircraft, D-1, in the coming months.

Ground testing for the NATO AWACS is slated for this month with an anticipated first test flight scheduled for November. The Air Force expects their fleet of DRAGON enabled E-3s to be delivered by the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025.