Boeing wins design contract for AWACS on April 17, 1969.

  • By Alan J Stein
  • Posted 6/03/1999
  • HistoryLink.org Essay 1221
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On April 17, 1969, Boeing wins the contract to design the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS). The AWACS, a modified Boeing 707 with a rotating radar dome, provides airborne surveillance command, control, and communications for air defense forces. The rotating radar provides a 360-degree view and can detect sea and air targets simultaneously.

In the Gulf War

The Boeing AWACS, still in production (1999), is a mainstay of U.S. and NATO forces. In 1990 and 1991, these planes were extensively and successfully used during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

 


Sources:

Walt Crowley, Rites of Passage: A Memoir of the Sixties in Seattle (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995), 268.


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