The E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System fixed-wing aircraft flew its final operational mission on September 21, capping a three-decade career as the military’s “eye in the sky” in conflicts from Operation Desert Storm to the war in Ukraine.
The sortie is a step on the airframe retirement journeyas the Air Force reshapes its inventory for the demands of modern combat.
“It’s bittersweet,” 116th Air Control Wing chief Col. Christopher Dunlap he said in a statement on Monday. “I’ve been flying this mission with this aircraft since the spring of 2003. There have been many changes over the years.”
JSTARS is a modified Boeing 707 that uses a long sensor in the belly of the jet to track the movement of ground forces around an area and share that information with other aircraft and troops below. Combat units rely on the fleet to mark potential targets and prevent friendly forces from being diverted into danger.
His final mission took off from Ramstein Air Base in Germany, a hub for US military operations across Europe and points further south. The Air Force declined to say where the flight took place or what it entailed.
“The aircraft’s sensors provided invaluable intelligence, guiding strategic decisions on the ground and enhancing operational effectiveness,” the agency said in the statement.
The fleet’s exit from military operations marks the end of an era in battlefield intelligence.
E-8Cs have flown military operations since Desert Storm in 1991 in Iraq and Afghanistan a decade later under the watchful eye of Russian troops massed on the Ukrainian border. They have also assisted in non-combat missions such as transnational drug busts.
The fleet was retired from US Central Command in 2019 after 18 years of deployment in support of counterterrorism operations.
“The E-8C JSTARS has played a vital role in countless operations, supporting troops and protecting nations,” the Air Force said on Facebook.
The fleet, which included 16 operational jets at the start of the retirement, was operated by two Air Force units: the active duty 461st Air Control Wing and the Georgia Air National Guard’s 116th ACW, both at Robins Air Force Base.
Together, they have flown more than 14,000 sorties since 2002, when they merged as the service’s first “joint” wing, the service said. The 461st ACW logged its last operational flight in June.
Plans for the sunset of the JSTARS fleet have gradually materialized over the past few years.
The Air Force briefly began an effort to request another aircraft to replace the JSTARS, but abandoned that program in fiscal 2019. After a dispute with Congress over the fate of the fleet, the service began retiring the E-8Cs in February 2022.
Instead of maintaining a huge stockpile of jets built specifically for highly specialized missions, the Air Force now wants to use a network of satellites, aircraft sensors and ground-based radars to collect the same targeting and tracking data.
The agency hopes this approach will make it more resilient to potential attacks on its command and control business, save money on aircraft maintenance and use its airmen more efficiently.
Two of the original 16 aircraft remain at Robins, according to the Air Force statement. The last JSTARS is set to depart for the Air Force Base Cemetery at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, in the first week of November.
Airmen can still use the jet for flight training until it is officially retired, Air Force spokesman Capt. Dustin Cole said.
As its main fleet declines, Robins has begun to take on new missions that the Air Force deems more relevant in future wars.
Nine E-11A Airborne Communications Relay Planes will be based at the central facility in Georgia, as well as a command and control squadron, a group focused on electromagnetic spectrum warfare, and an office that will handle the Air Force’s acquisition of future communications technologies known as the Advanced Battle Management System.
Some airmen are already working to open these units, while others are training to staff them.
“You can’t expect a department that has a long history of excellence to sit back and do nothing when there’s a lot of work to be done,” Dunlap said in an emailed statement. “It’s not in our DNA.”
Rachel Cohen joined Air Force Times as a senior reporter in March 2021. Her work has appeared in Air Force Magazine, Inside Defense, Inside Health Policy, Frederick News-Post (Md.), Washington Post and others.
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