Boeing E-3 Sentry

The Boeing E-3 Sentry is an American airborne early warning and control aircraft, commonly known as AWACS, derived from the Boeing 707 airliner. It carries a distinctive rotating radar dome above the fuselage and provides all-weather surveillance, command, control and communications for the United States Air Force, NATO, France, Saudi Arabia and Chile. The Air Force chose Boeing in the mid 1960s to replace the piston-engined EC-121 Warning Star and test competing radars on two airframes. The first preproduction aircraft made its maiden flight in February 1975, and production ended in 1992 after 68 aircraft had been built.