Gulfstream jets with Israeli radar to replace US Navy’s P-3 orion in test-range surveillance

The US Navy announced it plans to acquire a Gulfstream G550 modified to carry the conformal airborne early warning system (CAEW), to be used as ‘range support aircraft’, replacing P-3 and C-130 based radar carrying aircraft. The Navy will take delivery no later than the end of fiscal 2017. The US Navy will become the system’s fourth customer, following orders from the Israeli Air Force, Republic of Singapore Air Force and the Italian Air Force.

The aircraft is designed to host as multiple telemetry links supporting L, S and C bands supporting different telemetry test equipment and command destruct and flight termination system. On board radar would also provide range surveillance and range clearance, Flight Global reports.

Gulfstream, the aircraft manufacturer, has modified the G550 CAEW variant to carry an airborne Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) X/S band radar developed by Israel’s IAI/Elta Systems for airborne Aerial Early Warning (AEW) missions. Elta has been positioned as the prime contractor and systems integrator for the G550 CAEW aircraft. It is unclear if the US Navy will utilize the full CAEW configuration or use only the modified G550 ‘shell’, without the radar or with part of the radar, to support telemetry and range control missions.