<hi style=afpcap>The Boeing E-3 Sentry is a flying radar station. This airborne headquarters stays up high and peeks down at the military situation, monitoring friendly and hostile aircraft. Inside the metal cocoon of the E-3's fuselage, technical experts work magic with radar and electronics to detect enemy warplanes, plot their course, and guide friendly fighters to shoot them down.The familiar, saucer-like rotodome mounted on two 11-ft struts above the rear fuselage encloses the heart of the AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System), its Westinghouse AN/APY-2 Overland Downlook Radar. The dome itself is 30 ft in diameter, weighs 3,395 lb, and is canted 2.5 degrees downward. In operation, the dome rotates six times per minute.</hi>