Blast33
Posts: 404
Joined: 12/31/2018 From: Above and beyond Status: offline
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Chile negotiates three Boeing E-3D Sentry with Great Britain The Chilean Air Force has been managing since September 2021 the purchase of three Boeing E-3D Sentry (called Sentry AEW 1 in Great Britain) of the seven that the Royal Air Force operated between 1991 and August 2021 (although one copy remained operational at least until October). One of the planes would be to use as spare parts. The information was released by the journalist George Allison (https://twitter.com/geoallison/status/1483447331127283712) and later confirmed by Chilean sources, who indicated that at the end of 2021 FACH personnel traveled to Great Britain to initiate the aircraft transfer process. In addition, since September 2021 from Great Britain the FACH's interest in these aircraft had been reported. The E-3Ds are sought to replace the modified Boeing 707 in Israel for early warning in the 1980s, which is at the end of its operational life and would significantly expand the capacity of the FACH for this type of mission, as there are two aircraft instead of one, with more modern engines and avionics, much more sophisticated radar and systems, and the ability to refuel in flight. Of the seven RAF E-3Ds, one was scrapped, one was sold to the US Navy and the others are held in depot at RAF Waddington. The aircraft selected by the FACH would be those registered ZH 101 (c/n 24109/993, baptized "Doc", operational until at least October 2021), ZH 103 (c/n 24111/1004, baptized "Happy", given decommissioned September 2021) and ZH 106 (c/n 24114/1011, christened "Grumpy", decommissioned September 2021). https://www.pucara.org/post/chile-negocia-dos-boeing-e-3d-sentry-con-gran-breta%C3%B1a
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