© Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP/dpa
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will come to North Rhine-Westphalia on Thursday. Together with Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) he visited the NATO base at Geilenkirchen near Aachen. That Nato has placed an Awacs early warning system there. 14 converted Boeing 707 aircraft monitor the airspace with the aim of early detection of possible dangers and early warning to the alliance.
Awacs is an abbreviation for “Airborne Early Warning and Control System”. The machine has a range of 9,250 kilometers. They were clearly visible due to the large, mushroom-like radar device on the back of the plane. This allows them to find and identify other aircraft more than 400 kilometers away.
This multinational association provides classic air and maritime surveillance and is used as a kind of flying command center in fighter aircraft guidance missions. He has taken part in various operations such as in the Balkans and Afghanistan. After Russia’s attack on Ukraine, NATO temporarily relocated the aircraft to Romania.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:251113-930-285553/1
