New mission, new techniques: Joint STARS tracking Taliban in Afghan mountains

摘要

Airplanes that were designed in the 1980s to spot Soviet tanks rumbling through central Germany, and used in Iraq to track forces moving under the cover of a sandstorm, now are being used in Afghanistan to spot Taliban fighters trudging on foot at night along rough mountain trails. The planes are E-8C Joint STARS -- Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System aircraft. "We're looking at some new applications for the radar," confirmed Col. William Welsh, operations group commander at the 116th Air Control Wing, which operates the U.S. Air Force's 17 Joint STARS planes and is based at Robins Air Force Base, Ga. In Iraq, and especially in Afghanistan, the planes have proven useful in spotting and tracking "dismounted forces"--groups of Taliban and other fighters moving on foot.