The Bombardier E-9A Widget is an American telemetry support and surveillance plane in service with the United States Air Force. It is used as an airborne platform and telemetry relay aircraft providing ocean surface surveillance for range safety and target telemetry of missiles fired for over the horizon profiles on the Gulf of Mexico Ranges.[2]
A request for proposal was officially issued, proposals included Alenia-Aérospatial ATR-42-200, BAe 748 and Fokker F27-600. However these could not effectively accommodate the large conformal antenna of the AN/APS-128D and thus the newer Canadian Dash 8 won the bid.[3]
Since the end of the 2000s, the aircraft have been modernized, the AN/APS-148D radar was replaced by the AW/APS-143(V)-1 which can detect even smaller targets in the Gulf of Mexico such as small boats and small unmanned surface vehicles. Tests were even conducted with the US Navy to test the E-9's ability to detect submarine periscopes though results were officially not satisfactory. A major concern for the test and evaluation of weapons and aircraft is the presence of foreign spying / intelligence gathering assets.[3]
Use
During live missile launches and other dangerous military operations, the E-9A, serves as a surveillance platform to make sure that no civilian boats or planes are present in the Gulf of Mexico seas. At Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida, the E-9A supports the development, evaluation, and operational testing of air-to-air weapons systems by providing essential radar data about the locations and movement of civilian boats.[4]
A person in a life raft may be detected up to 25 miles away in the sea by the aircraft, which is equipped with AN/APS-143(V)-1 Airborne Sea Surveillance Radar, which is modified to identify things in the Gulf of Mexico. The range safety officer, who chooses the shot location for live-fire operations, receives this telemetry data via downlink.[5]
Test and drone vehicles flying over the Gulf of Mexico provide data to the aircraft's fixed antenna array, which records and receives it. It can transmit two UHF frequencies from the air to ground locations across the horizon.[5] It is also able to locate drones that have been shot down during a weapon testing exercise.[6]
The 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group began using the plane in 1988, and since that day it has been providing telemetry and sea surveillance radar services to the adjacent Eglin Air Force Base, as part of the Weapon System Evaluation Programme.[5]
Design
Externally the E-9 Widget heavily resembles other Dash 8 planes. Apart from United States Air Force markings, the main distinguishing feature is the 9.1 meter long antenna of the AN/APS-128D multimode X-band surveillance radar conformally mounted on the lower right side of the fuselage. This was later replaced by the AN/APS-143(V)-1 Airborne Sea Surveillance Radar. It can detect a person in a life raft up to 25 miles away. The aircraft has a fixed antenna array that receives and records telemetry from test and drone vehicles flying over the Gulf of Mexico. It can relay two UHF frequencies over the horizon to ground sites.[2]
The crew consists of two pilots in the cockpit which is similar to commercial models and two mission operators in the aft fuselage.
