25th anniversary aircraft design and NATO emblem description

The aircraft itself is painted in silver and blue. The colour silver – for the nose – was chosen because silver represents 25-year anniversaries, and the colour blue represents our Air Forces. This combination of a very light colour with a relatively dark colour on the fuselage required proper colour balancing. Together, these two colours illustrate the continuing “day and night” nature of our operations. On the fuselage, the silver-blue borderline has been put at a sharp angle in order to add as much speed as possible to the overall design. For the same reason, the logo has also been placed at an angle on this very borderline. Since the logo (which measures 9 x 4 metres) follows the cylindrical shape of the fuselage, its shape had to be digitally distorted to make it fit. The logo itself features a superimposed figure “25” next to the official NATO logo. This is followed by 15 flags that represent only those NATO countries participating in the NATO E-3A Programme. Under NATO regulations the flags are always shown sequentially from left to right in French alphabetical order. Thus, the sequence is Allemagne (GE), Belgique (BE), Canada (CA), Danemark (DA), Espagne (S), États-Unis (US), Grèce (GR), Hongrie (HU), Italie (IT), Luxembourg (LU), Norvège (NO), Pays-Bas (NL), Pologne (PL), Portugal (PO) and Turquie (TU).

Apart from the logo, the most remarkable portion of the paint scheme is probably the very distinctive design on the tail, or to put it correctly, the vertical fin. As on the NATO 50th anniversary aircraft unveiled in 1999, the ornaments represented in our Component patch have been used again. On the very centre of the fin, the “fortress wall” was placed. This wall symbolizes a clear separation line between our opponents and the NATO members. The lightning bolts illustrate our E-3A radar function and the NATO star rises high above to watch over this. On the other hand, the colour selected for the top of the fin and the background to the NATO star was changed to golden yellow with an additional orange gradient. The intended effect was to illustrate the early dawn with the sun rising over the horizon. Figuratively, this design represented the beginning of the new decade that the organization has just entered, with the E-3A Component supporting NATO’s new role in the NATO Response Force.

The logo with flags and the fin section are linked by a string of 26 stars (one for each NATO nation). The stars commence next to the flags in the logo and fly in one dynamic wave to the largest of the three lightning bolts on the fin.

To finish it all off, the Luxembourg Lion has been given a very prominent position on the strut. Instead of the standard decals, the larger lions were applied in paint.

Last but not least, the colour blue returns on the vertical stabilizers and the engine cowls. The wings themselves are not affected by any colour change, but will carry larger NATO stars on both sides – top and bottom – together with the words ‘NATO’and ‘OTAN’ and the Luxembourg Lion.

Close Window