Surveillance aircraft are aircraft used for surveillance. They are primarily operated by military forces and government agencies in roles including intelligence gathering, maritime patrol, battlefield and airspace surveillance, observation, and law enforcement.
Tyndall Air Force Base is a United States Air Force Base located 12 miles (19 km) east of Panama City, Florida. The base was named in honor of World War I pilot 1st Lt. Frank Benjamin Tyndall. The base operating unit and host wing is the 325th Fighter Wing of the Air Combat Command (ACC). The base hosts 2,902 active duty members. In October 2018, Hurricane Michael caused significant damage to the base.
An airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) system is an airborne radar early warning system designed to detect aircraft, ships, vehicles, missiles and other incoming projectiles at long ranges, as well as performing command and control of the battlespace in aerial engagements by informing and directing friendly fighter and attack aircraft. AEW&C units are also used to carry out aerial surveillance over ground and maritime targets, and frequently perform battle management command and control (BMC2). When used at altitude, the radar system on AEW&C aircraft allows the operators to detect, track and prioritize targets and identify friendly aircraft from hostile ones in real-time and from much farther away than ground-based radars. Like ground-based radars, AEW&C systems can be detected and targeted by opposing forces, but due to aircraft mobility and extended sensor range, they are much less vulnerable to counter-attacks than ground systems.
The Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton is an American high-altitude long endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed for and flown by the United States Navy and Royal Australian Air Force as a surveillance aircraft. Together with its associated ground control station, it is an unmanned aircraft system (UAS). Developed under the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) program, the Triton is intended to provide real-time intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions (ISR) over vast ocean and coastal regions, continuous maritime surveillance, conduct search and rescue missions, and to complement the Boeing P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft.
The Erieye radar system is an Airborne Early Warning and Control System (AEW&C) developed by Saab Electronic Defence Systems, formerly Ericsson Microwave Systems, of Sweden. It uses active electronically scanned array (AESA) technology. The Erieye is used on a variety of aircraft platforms, such as the Saab 340 and Embraer R-99. It has recently been implemented on the Bombardier Global 6000 aircraft as the GlobalEye.
The usefulness of UAVs for aerial reconnaissance was demonstrated to the United States in the Vietnam War. At the same time, early steps were being taken to use them in active combat at sea and on land, but unmanned combat aerial vehicles would not come into their own until the 1980s.
Aerospace Defense Command was a major command of the United States Air Force, responsible for air defense of the continental United States. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air Defense Command, was established in 1946, briefly inactivated in 1950, reactivated in 1951, and then redesignated Aerospace rather than Air in 1968. Its mission was to provide air defense of the Continental United States (CONUS). It directly controlled all active measures, and was tasked to coordinate all passive means of air defense.
The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper is an unmanned aerial vehicle capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations, developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) primarily for the United States Air Force (USAF). The MQ-9 and other UAVs are referred to as Remotely Piloted Vehicles/Aircraft (RPV/RPA) by the USAF to indicate ground control by humans.
The 82nd Aerial Targets Squadron is a United States Air Force unit. It is assigned to the 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group and stationed at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida.
A radar system has look-down/shoot-down capability if it can detect, track and guide a weapon to an air target that is silhouetted against the ground.
The 325th Fighter Wing is a wing of the United States Air Force based in Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida.
The 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group is a United States Air Force unit that reports to the 53rd Wing. It is stationed at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida. The unit is part of Air Combat Command.
The Chengdu GJ-1, also known as Wing Loong 1, is a Medium-Altitude Long-Endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), developed by the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group in the People's Republic of China. Intended for use as a surveillance and aerial reconnaissance platform, the Pterodactyl I is capable of being fitted with air-to-surface weapons for use in an unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) role.
The 46th Test Group was a United States Air Force group active from 1992 to 2012. It was last active with the 46th Test Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. The 46th Test Group was stationed as a tenant unit at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, throughout its existence. It was disbanded on 18 July 2012, and replaced by the 96th Test Group in an administrative reorganization.
Air Defense, Tactical Air Command (ADTAC) was a Named Unit of the United States Air Force, and operated at the Numbered Air Force echelon of Tactical Air Command. It was responsible for the air defense of the United States, and was last stationed at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. It was last assigned to Tactical Air Command, and was inactivated on 6 December 1985.
The Air Defense Weapons Center is an inactive unit of the United States Air Force, last stationed at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida. It was last assigned to First Air Force, Tactical Air Command, and was inactivated on 12 September 1991
The Reeves AN/MSQ-51 Aerial Target Control Central (ATCC) was a combination radar/computer/communications system developed 1961-3 for United States Navy "aerial target out-of-sight control". In addition to the "Target Control System AN/SRW-4D" with radios and "Antenna Assemblies for Target Control and Communications ", the ATCC included acquisition/surveillance and tracking radars, a Mark X IFF/SIF, and an analog computer. The ATCC's automatic tracking radar was derived from the Western Electric M-33 gun laying radar and could process double-pulse 9340-9370 MHz beacon returns from transponders up to 400,000 yd away from the AN/MSQ-51 transmitting 9215-9285 MHz radar pulses. If an ATCC was equipped with a "Telemetry Receiving Station", IRIG channels 5-14 could also be received from QF-9G and Q-2C unmanned aerial vehicles. Other ATCC-controlled drones included the QF-9F, KDA-1, KDA-4, KDB-1 and KD2R-5. For "RF communications " to command the drone was a "Collins Radio Co. Model 618T-3" Single Sideband Transceiver (SST) with Control Unit 714E-2 for 28,000 channels. The 1000 watt voice radio system had 2 UHF AN/GRC-27 sets "with Control-Indicator 6-806/GR" for 1750 channels
The Composite Engineering BQM-167 Skeeter is a subscale aerial target (drone) developed and manufactured by Composite Engineering Inc. and operated by the United States Air Force and certain international customer air forces. It replaced the Beechcraft MQM-107 Streaker.
The AN/APS-20 was an airborne early warning, anti-submarine, maritime surveillance and weather radar developed in the United States in the 1940s. Entering service in 1945, it served for nearly half a century, finally being retired in 1991. Initially developed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) under Project Cadillac, the radar was developed to be carried by aircraft to extend the sensor range of ships by placing a radar at altitude. Although developed for carrier-borne operation, first being installed in the single-engined General Motors TBM-3W Avenger, it was also used in larger four-engined airframes, the last being a fleet of Avro Shackleton AEW.2 which were converted from maritime patrol aircraft. Similarly, although developed for detecting aircraft, it saw extensive service in anti-submarine and maritime patrol roles and was one of the first radars to be used in researching extreme weather like hurricanes by agencies like the Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA). As well as the United States, the radar was used by a large number of services in other countries, including the French Navy, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF), Royal Air Force (RAF) and Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Early versions of the radar could see a low-flying aircraft at 65 nautical miles and a ship at 200 nautical miles. This was improved, so that later versions had a range against aerial targets of 115 nautical miles.
