A question of speed?

[McColm]

Hi Guys,
AEW and AWACS aircraft have always fascinated me from seeing the Avro Shackleton to the Boeing E-3 Sentry.
So my question(s) is how fast can these systems operate at?
I know transit speed is a factor to getting on station and leaving the racetrack circuit. Loiter time is another.
Plus another factor must be how high can you fly before you lose the coverage?

In the whiffing world these principles don't matter as you could build a B-70 bomber and put the rotodome on the upper fuselage. Or whiff Concord.. The Sidetrack system is open to all turboprop and jet engined aircraft.

[Hobbes]

More altitude is generally better. You just have to account for the dead sector below the beam.

More speed isn't a problem for radar, but you get airframe issues: a radome will heat up at high speed.

[tomo pauk]

The E-2C Hawkeye topped at 315 kt (http://alternatewars.com/SAC/E-2C_Hawkeye_SAC_-_January_1970.pdf). That is vs. 343 kt of the LR-radar-less C-2 Greyhound.
Per Wikipedia, the E-3 can do 530 kt, a tad faster than the 707.