HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE: Members of the 350th Electronic Systems Group here are working to bolster Iraq’s air force with the capabilities needed to better defend the country’s airspace.
A formal request for proposal is due out next month to provide long-range radars to Ali Base, Iraq, to help Iraqis detect incoming air traffic and provide the capability for “air defense, air sovereignty and an air picture for the military or government,” said Maj. Jim Josephson, the 350th ELSG Iraq program manager.
The long-range radars’ reach would extend to an area of about 200 miles that covers the southern sector of Iraq — including the country’s southern tip, the Persian Gulf, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
The data taken in by these radars will be provided to the Iraqi sector operations center from the long-range radars, will provide an added layer of situational awareness.
“Data from the long-range radars will be overlayed together to provide a better picture to the air operations center,” the major said.
The radars will eventually be linked to a nationwide command and control infrastructure project known as the Iraqi air force information infrastructure project. I3P would serve as the backbone for information flow, permitting Iraqi air bases to communicate with aircraft and Iraq’s air operations center.
The Iraqi air force already has an air operations center in place, which Major Josephson likens to a command and control hub. The long-range radars and their companion sector operations centers function as the spokes that eventually feed data right back to the air operations center.
“It’s similar to what we do in the U.S. Air Force with regional command and control operations that provide a distant air picture to the air operations center,” the major said.
“The program could have as many as three to four (radars) — that’s fulfilling the plan and not part of the acquisition strategy at the moment,” Major Josephson said. “We can only strategize for that we have funding for.”
Currently the only radars in place are those owned by the United States. According to Major Josephson, they are mobile and were designed to be temporary from the start. These radars are used to support the Air Force’s functional mission as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The equipment would be purchased as part of an overall effort to modernize the Iraqi air force’s command and control structure that is being managed by Multinational Security Transition Command-Iraq.
The contract for the radars and operations center is expected to be awarded before September 2009, with a possible extension until 2012.
