BOEING WILL test fly a fuselage-mounted infra-red search and track (IRST) system on board an E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft in the third quarter of 1998.
The IRST and laser ranger package, called the Eagle, will be used to look at the feasibility of employing the equipment to detect and target ballistic missiles. Boeing is under contract to the US Air Force to provide a prototype demonstrator aircraft.
Boeing, and its major subcontractor Texas Instruments, will begin ground tests of the IRST in the second half of 1997.
The primary function of the test will be to see if the Eagle could be effectively used to provide ballistic missile target and cueing information for the Lockheed Martin Theatre High Altitude Area Defense and Patriot PAC III missiles, and Aegis-class naval vessels.
The equipment package will be mounted in a large pod on the upper fuselage to the rear of the aircraft's cockpit with a second IR sensor mounted on the bottom of the fuselage to the rear of the wing. Two Eagle operator stations will be included in the mission crew compartment.
No decision has yet been taken on how to proceed should the tests prove successful. Options could include then moving to full-scale development.
Source: Flight International
