AWACS In Charge:

The boss of the Air Force’s only E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft flying wing, Brig. Gen. Lori Robinson, believes the AWACS platform is “in charge of the entire theater.” She was talking last week with members of Electronic Systems Center, which sustains and modernizes the AWACS for the US and international partners, when she made that statement and explained that today’s AWACS is a critical asset in accelerating the kill chain rather than only an air-to-air sensor platform. She said she expects ESC to keep expanding AWACS capabilities. And, this was one of the airplanes that critics tried to kill. (Read our 2002 retrospective “A Quarter Century of AWACS.”) (Report by Chuck Paone.)