Squadron Service - Armée de l'Air
From October 9th 1992 NATO began to enforce the no-fly zone over Bosnia. NATO, RAF and French Air Force E-3s were flying a total of four flights per day, two over Hungary and two over the Adriatic. The patrols were nearly always in daylight.
On August 1st 1993, the Armée de l'Air's E-3F unit was redesignated as 36 Escadron de Detection et de Controle Aeroportee, and its two E-3F components were reduced to Flight status, as Escadrilles 1/36 "Berry" and 2/36 "Nivernais"
The 300th Bosnia-related mission flown by a French E-3F was undertaken on November 26th 1994 directly from the 36th EDCA's base at Avord. NATO, USAF, RAF and French E-3s took part in Operation Allied Force against Serbia which started on March 24th 1999. Some RSIP-equipped aircraft took part in this operation, apparently with good results.
On December 19th 2000 it was announced that Boeing had completed the installation of ESM equipment on French Air Force E-3Fs.
Air France Industries, under contract to Boeing, installed GPS/INS in the French Air Force E-3F fleet between July 2001 and October 2002. In addition the aircraft received an upgrade to their altitude management systems.
In January 2005 Air France Industries, under subcontract to Boeing, completed upgrading the first French Air Force E-3F Sentry (36-CA?) with a Radar System Improvement Program (RSIP) kit. The other three E-3Fs were due to have received the RSIP kit by mid-2006.
The French government has requested that its four E-3Fs be refitted with Block 40/45 Mission Computing, Electronic Support Measures (ESM) and Radar System Improvement Program (RSIP) Interface, and Mode 5/S IFF.
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