Most of you know that the NATO E-3A Community has embarked on a significant, culminating upgrade to the current AWACS capability: the Final Lifetime Extension Programme, known as “FLEP”. This upgrade primarily focuses on Mission System modernisation ensuring the E-3A’s operational relevance through enhanced interoperability.

What you may not know is the that at the forefront of FLEP is a joint team of NAEW&C Force and NAPMA personnel called the Combined Test Team or CTT.  

Look… up into the sky… it’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s… the NAPMO Board of Directors… the B-O-D!
Ok, the B-O-D is not Superman, but for over 40 years the BOD has governed one of the most successful international programmes in history, the world’s first multi-national, fully integrated Air Force – “NATO’s Air Force.” The NATO Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) Programme Management Organization (NAPMO) Board of Directors has authority over the management and governance of the NATO AEW&C Programme, particularly in the technical, initial support, financial and contractual areas.  

The Final Lifetime Extension Programme, also referred to as “FLEP”, for NATO’s E-3A fleet is well underway. Just a few months ago in April, N-1 was flown to the Depot Level Maintenance facility at Leonardo in Tessera, Italy. To date, most of the legacy equipment has been removed from the aircraft to allow for the installation of new and modified replacements. But there is so much more happening behind the scenes that is not immediately obvious.  

The Flight Mission Software Suite (FMSS) Black Label 5.0 (BL5.0) software is about to be delivered after an intensive testing period. This period was divided into numerous contractor laboratory tests in the USA, and Ground & Flight tests in Germany.  

The NE-3A Final Lifetime Extension Programme (FLEP) is on a fixed budget…inflation is notorious for eroding all things fixed. Will FLEP suffer big? Interestingly, the short answer is no. But why not?  

The ‘long climb’ towards the induction of the first Final Lifetime Extension Programme (FLEP) aircraft (N-1) for modification has come to a successful conclusion. On 11 April, the N-1 aircraft departed MOB Geilenkirchen for the Leonardo modification facility in Tessera, Italy.  

This year is the 40th anniversary of the activation of the E-3A Component. Wow! It is amazing to still have the NE-3A as a fully capable weapon system, even though more than four decades have passed since the beginning of this thrilling adventure.  

The 106th meeting of the NATO Airborne Management Organisation (NAPMO) Board of Directors (BOD) was conducted virtually from 7-8 December 2021 due to the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic.  

Before we all get a little bit too excited by the title, let’s explain what this means. As we approach two years since NAPMA signed the Final Lifetime Extension Programme (FLEP) contract with Boeing, physical work has finally begun to prepare Geilenkirchen Air Base to receive the new capabilities that FLEP will deliver.  

In June 2021, NAPMA and the NAEW&C Force successfully cleared a significant airworthiness milestone when a NATO Assessment Team (NAT) paid a virtual visit to the staffs of the NE-3A Operational Airworthiness Authority (OAA) and Technical Airworthiness Authority (TAA). The NAT visit marked the culmination of two years of work toward completing the NATO Recognition Process (NRP) of the airworthiness policies and procedures jointly employed by NAPMA, as the TAA, and the NAEW&C Force, as the OAA.  

Exciting changes are on the way in the form of a modern mission system software upgrade coming to the NATO E-3A fleet as part of the one-billion-dollar Final Lifetime Extension Programme (FLEP) managed by NAPMA.