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Boeing 737 Peace Eagle

2014 MODERN AIRCRAFT

History of the Boeing 737 Peace Hawk

The civil airliner Boeing 737-700 - plus modern radar and flight control systems - forms the basis for the Boeing 737 Peace Eagle Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C or "AWAC"). The aircraft has been adopted by the air forces of Australia, South Korea and Turkey, with around 14 produced as of July 2014. Australia has six E-7A Wedgetails, while South Korea manages four aircraft.

The Turkish Air Force has ordered four, plus two EW-7Ts. It debuted during the 2014 Eagles of Anatolia, which brought together aircraft from the UK, Spain, Jordan, Turkey and Qatar for joint exercises. The Turkish Air Force received its first aircraft (named "Kusey" or "North") on 21 February 2014. Guney, Dogu and Bati (south, east and west respectively) will follow.

Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) is a subcontractor for the Boeing-led Turkish Peace Eagle project.

The original modified 737 airframe was developed at Boeing's Seattle facility to define the overall design and implement complex airborne systems. Flight testing then ended in September 2007.

Subsequently, Turkey handled the local fabrication and development of the second airframe directly through TAI to gain the necessary experience to develop and maintain Turkish aircraft in Turkey. Their presence, along with all the aforementioned services, expands each country's strategic influence in their respective volatile regions - Australia and South Korea in the Asia-Pacific region and Turkey in the Middle East.

When complete, Peace Eagle will have a crew of up to 10 people, including pilots, commanders and mission specialists. Payload capacity up to 43,720 lbs.

The fuselage is essentially the same as the Boeing 737 product, with a barrel length of 110 feet 4 inches, a wingspan of 117 feet 2 inches, and a height of 41 feet 2 inches. Curb weight is 102,750 lbs and MTOW is 171,000 lbs. Power comes from 2 CFM International CFM56-7B27A series turbofan engines, each providing 27,000 pounds of thrust. Cruising speed will reach 530 mph, range will be 3,500 nautical miles, and service will be capped at 41,000 feet.

The Peace Eagle airframe can be refueled mid-air by tankers via linkages mounted above and behind the cockpit flight deck.

The key to Peace Eagle's success is its Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) multipurpose radar system, developed by Northrop Grumman, mounted on top of the fuselage spine. Unlike the old radome, this arrangement has a slender, flat and elongated shape and sits atop a structural support attached to the fuselage. There are many antennae and sensory protrusions on the front of the dorsal spine, as are the front and middle parts of the ventral trunk. Another change to the 737's shape is the addition of large ventral struts below the rear wing. The wings remain low-swept main aircraft, with each wing managing an engine nacelle below.

The rear wing consists of a high-reaching vertical rear wing and a low-hanging horizontal rear wing. The cockpit is designed very forward for maximum nose visibility. The landing gear consists of a twin-wheel front leg and a pair of twin-wheel main legs, all of which are retractable.

Italy, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have all been designated as potential operators of the Peace Eagle system.

On May 2, 2014, it was announced that the second Peace Eagle aircraft had been delivered to the Turkish Air Force. A third aircraft was subsequently released on September 9, 2014. The service currently (2015) has a total of four aircraft.