NAEW to Deploy to Afghanistan

[ORAC]

Well OK, to operate over Afghanistan. I presume they'll be based somewhere like Oman or the UAE with a suitable 5 star hotel and nightlife.....

Defense News: NATO To Deploy Radar Planes To Afghanistan

BRUSSELS - NATO decided Jan. 7 to deploy AWACS radar aircraft to Afghanistan to monitor the growing traffic of aerial missions against Taliban insurgents, the Western military alliance said.

Allies reached an agreement for the "AWACS to begin their operations in Afghanistan in mid-January," NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu told AFP. Two planes will take part in the three-month mission, she said.

An agreement in principle to deploy the Airborne Warning and Control System planes, which are fitted with long-range radar allowing them to detect other aircraft and prevent mid-air collisions, had been reached in June 2009. But the deployment of the planes - which act like airbone control towers - was delayed due to difficulties in securing the right to fly over certain countries neighboring Afghanistan.

[Harley Quinn]

I am sure they will behave with absolute professionalism at work, as every other force has over the years who spent their wars living in hotels.

[Lima Juliet]

The British E3D Component of the NAEW Force went in Dec 2009 (Spy planes heading for Afghanistan) and the USAF E-3Cs have been over Afghanistan for many years.

This is hardly earth shattering news (apart from NATO has made a decision to have a go as well).

LJ