Williamtown base radar system revealed

Hours before the Malaysia Airlines plane bound for Kuala Lumpur was shot down over Ukraine, the Newcastle Herald was being shown a radar defence system at Williamtown RAAF base that will play a key role in security for the G20 leaders’ summit in Brisbane in November.

In the Williamtown base’s Eastern Region Operations Centre, the Herald watched on as air-battle managers engaged with a wave of RAAF fighters and a radar-carrying Boeing 737 – the E-7A Wedgetail ‘‘airborne early warning and control platform’’ – taking part in simulated war games over the ocean off Newcastle.

At the time, the detailed defence briefing and the tactical manoeuvres of the F/A-18 pilots had more of a theoretical air than a real-life urgency.

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