E-11A Aircraft Goes Into USAF SW Asia Service

Air Force Prepares to Welcome E-11A: The Air Force has announced the purchase of a Bombardier BD-700 Global Express aircraft for use as an overhead communications-relay platform in Southwest Asia. This aircraft carries Northrop Grumman's Battlefield Airborne Communications Node, or BACN, which allows disparate battlefield communications systems to share data. The Air Force had been leasing this aircraft, but then decided it would make more business sense to purchase it. "The prime contractor understands the military is looking to effectively use every dollar provided and worked hand-in-hand with the government team to facilitate
the transition of this new platform into the [Air Force] inventory," said a spokesman for the Electronics System Center at Hanscom AFB, Mass.