Whether the AWACS aircraft carries missiles or not, what does the AWACS aircraft's defense rely on?

Traditionally, early warning aircraft do not carry missiles and fight directly with the enemy. Instead, they mainly rely on their strong battlefield situational awareness capabilities to detect incoming threats as early as possible to ensure their own safety. In wartime, when it is discovered that enemy air/ground/sea forces are attacking, the early warning aircraft can promptly guide our own fighter jets or other air/ground forces to intercept, and at the same time escape from the dangerous airspace as quickly as possible. Once the enemy launches a surface-to-air/air-to-air missile, the early warning aircraft also has a relatively advanced and complete airborne self-defense electronic warfare device, which can implement soft kill (active/passive interference) against the incoming missile, thereby ensuring its own safety.

However, with the continuous improvement of the maneuverability and anti-interference ability of modern surface-to-air/air-to-air missiles, coupled with the inherent weaknesses of the AWACS aircraft such as slow flight speed, poor maneuverability, and strong radar/infrared signal characteristics, the AWACS aircraft relies solely on aircraft. Carrying self-defense electronic warfare devices makes it difficult to ensure battlefield safety. To this end, the United States is currently actively researching and developing active protection technology for military aircraft and plans to use it on the E-3 early warning aircraft. The principle is very simple, which is to use a small/micro air-to-air missile (anti-missile interceptor) to intercept and destroy incoming missiles in a hard-kill manner. The "Small Advanced Capability Missile" (SACM) currently being developed by the United States is a typical representative of this type of weapon. It can be equipped with not only fighter jets, but also large aircraft such as early warning aircraft and tankers. In the longer term, using airborne high-energy laser weapons to intercept incoming missiles will be the most ideal way to improve the battlefield protection capabilities of early warning aircraft. The United States is currently conducting research and testing in this area. For example, the SHIELD, which is scheduled to undergo aerial shooting tests in 2021, is a laser weapon pod that can be carried externally by military aircraft such as fighter jets or early warning aircraft. Used to intercept and destroy incoming surface-to-air/air-to-air missiles.

For details on the active protection technology of military aircraft, you can refer to a new book "Active Protection Technology of Military Aircraft" published by the National Defense Industry Press in 2020. The book has a very detailed and easy-to-understand introduction to this. Its book information: website Link