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karatecatman · Guest

www.ntnews.com.au/article/2009/05/25/53611_ntnews.html
Wedgetail super spy plane stalks Territory skies
REBEKAH CAVANAGH

May 25th, 2009

ONE of the world's most advanced spy plane has been put to the test in Territory skies.

And senior defence and industry sources said the $3.5 billion Wedgetail early-warning aircraft "performed well" in the series of flight demonstrations.

The Wedgetail touched down at Darwin's RAAF base earlier this month to conduct the flight tests in NT airspace.

It has been dogged by technical problems, is already running four years late, and so far has seen manufacturer Boeing lose more than $1 billion after failing to meet performance deadlines.

The plane could begin flight training later this year.

The modified Boeing 737-700 aircraft boasts a specially developed phased array radar designed to track hundreds of targets in the air and at sea simultaneously, including cruise missiles which can be tracked at a range of more than 400km.

The aerial trials of the hi-tech airborne air defence system followed a lengthy series of laboratory tests earlier this year on the performance of the Wedgetail's radar, conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Lincoln Laboratory.

shivendrashukla · Posted: Tue May 26, 2009 12:32 pm Post subject:

India is also buliding something of this sort. DRDO is building locally made radars to be mounted on top of EMB 145, orders for which has been placed.

This is second attempt by DRDO after the 1st one crashed.

Cheers
Shivendra