ABSTRACT
Radar technology for early warning and defensive purposes has long been a priority research area in the Department of Defense. In July 1970, Boeing Corporation was selected by the air force as the prime contractor to develop aircraft to house an Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS). The AWACS radar system, a rotating antenna, would be mounted on a converted Boeing 707-320C airplane, capable of housing the radar, data processor, computer, display consoles, communication and ancillary equipment, and seventeen crew members. The congressional committees were concerned that, with a sale to Iran, AWACS technology could fall into Soviet hands, possibly changing the balance of power in the Middle East. The General Accounting Office did comparison studies using a Navy aircraft—the E-2C, which had some of the same capabilities as AWACS—and ground radars as possible air defense alternatives to offer to Iran.
