AWACS over Mobile Bay

With its distinctive 30-foot rotating radar dome easily visible, a US Air Force Boeing E-3G Sentry passes over southern Mobile Bay APR 16th 2026 while on a training mission out of Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma. Captured at an altitude of 32,025 feet or about six miles high, the aircraft moves at a ground speed of 392 knots or 451 miles per hour. The Sentry is an upgraded version of the E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft and is heavily relied upon for its ability to provide all-weather 360-degree surveillance, command and control functions in hostile environments. In what’s considered the first combat destruction of an E-3, the Air Force lost a Sentry when it was destroyed while on the ground MAR 27th during an Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. In terms of aircraft replacement as well as on board capability, replacement cost for a single E-3G is put at between $300 million and $700 million. The fleet of E-3Gs is aging and becoming harder and more expensive to maintain. The Air Force wants to phase out E-3Gs in favor of Boeing’s E-7 Wedgetail.

Photo shot from Fairhope, approximately 11 miles away…