Inside NATO’s ‘eyes in the sky’: Aboard an AWACS mission watching Russia’s eastern flank

Eyes in the sky

The mission begins at 6 a.m. at NATO’s air base in Geilenkirchen, Germany, near the Dutch border.

While much of the town is still asleep, service members from 10 NATO countries prepare one of the alliance’s 14 Boeing E-3A AWACS aircraft for takeoff.

Thirty-three people are aboard for this mission - more than the usual crew of 20 to 25. In addition to surveillance, the team will help coordinate an air exercise involving fighter jets from Italy, Greece, Türkiye and Spain.

“We are flying to Romania, and during this mission we will monitor the Black Sea region,” said Donny Demmers, a NATO AWACS public affairs officer. “We are also participating in a one-day exercise with fighters from the Italian, Greek, Turkish and Spanish air forces. Together, we are practicing an integrated air and missile defense scenario.”

The aircraft’s distinctive rotating radar dome scans the surrounding area every 10 seconds and can track targets more than 400 kilometers (250 miles) away.

That allows the crew to see beyond the reach of ground-based radar and monitor activity in the air, at sea and on land - including Russian military activity near Ukraine and in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory.

Information collected aboard the aircraft is transmitted to NATO coordination centers on the ground in real time, allowing allies to receive information about potential threats within seconds.

Analysts aboard the aircraft do more than count objects on a screen. They compare radar data with identification information and movement patterns to determine whether an aircraft or vessel is what it claims to be.

If something does not match, the crew can report the object up the chain of command, which may decide to send an aircraft or warship to identify it visually.

Watching Russian activity

Mike, an assistant tactical director whose surname hromadske is withholding for security reasons, has watched Russian military activity around Europe change since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“At the beginning of the war, in 2022, we could see many Russian aircraft gathering in groups, forming up and preparing for an attack,” he said. “We don’t see anything like that now.”

NATO officers say intelligence collected during AWACS missions is shared with alliance members. Asked off camera how Ukraine receives information about preparations for Russian attacks, crew members responded with a slight smile.

During hromadske’s flight, the team was clearly monitoring the area around Ukraine.

On one screen, hromadske journalists saw three Russian aircraft near Russian-occupied Crimea. They later learned that an air raid alert had been underway in Ukraine at the time.

Most of the other information collected by the mission remained classified.

But the crew says the broader trend is clear: Russian military activity along NATO’s borders has increased since the beginning of the full-scale war.

“What we have seen since the beginning of the war in Ukraine is that Russian activity along the NATO border has increased,” Demmers said.

AWACS missions therefore operate across a vast area, from the Arctic and Baltic Sea along the alliance’s eastern flank to Türkiye in the southeast.

In the Baltic region, crews can monitor activity over the Baltic Sea as well as around Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave, Mike said.

The picture is different in the Black Sea.

Crew members say Russian naval activity in its western waters has fallen sharply compared with the beginning of the full-scale invasion - a change they attribute to the actions of Ukraine’s Defense Forces.

Practicing for an attack

Surveillance is only part of this flight.

The AWACS crew is also helping coordinate an exercise designed to test NATO’s integrated air and missile defenses.

One group of aircraft plays the “red” force - an adversary attacking NATO airspace. The “blue” force defends it.

The AWACS crew provides tactical control for one side, tracking the fighters and giving pilots a wider picture of what is happening around them.

Although NATO describes the simulated adversary as a potential threat approaching from the alliance’s eastern flank, the exercise reflects the kind of threat allied forces could face from Russia.

For the AWACS itself, distance is its primary defense.

“Our main safety factor is distance,” the aircraft’s lead pilot said. “We can see very far with the radar. We fly over NATO territory, and we always keep our distance.”

If necessary, the aircraft can also request support from fighter jets. Fighters frequently operate nearby during missions, the pilot said.

Refueling at 30,000 feet

An eight-hour patrol also requires fuel - and returning to an air base is not always necessary.

During the mission, another aircraft approaches the AWACS in midair for refueling. For around half an hour, the two large aircraft fly extremely close together.

From inside, it feels like a boat rocking on waves.

The pilots describe it as one of the most demanding parts of the mission.

“For pilots, it’s essentially the most difficult part because we bring two aircraft very close together,” the lead pilot said.

A single midair refueling can add another four to five hours to the aircraft’s normal seven-to-eight-hour endurance.

With multiple refuelings, the pilot said, the aircraft could theoretically remain airborne indefinitely - allowing it to stay on station longer, continue surveillance or control more fighters.

From daily patrols to weekly missions

This mission takes the AWACS along NATO’s eastern flank - from Germany through Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary toward Romania before returning to Geilenkirchen.

Such patrols now take place weekly.

Immediately after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, however, NATO AWACS aircraft flew missions every day and sometimes several times a day.

Beyond surveillance, Demmers said the flights are intended to send a message.

“During one flight, we have representatives of many countries working together near the borders of our alliance,” he said.

“It is a very strong signal to our people: We are united, and together we are stronger. And also to our adversaries: We will be ready to defend every inch of our alliance’s territory.”