Before hostilities began in Iraq on March 19, 2003, there was a Joint STARS presence. The four-engine Boeing jet was using its belly-mounted radar to get the lay of the land and build an initial intelligence profile.

More than three years and 20,000 combat flying hours later, the Robins Air Force Base ground surveillance system remains in Iraq.

It has a sharper, more tactical focus, but it's still building real-time intelligence, saving lives and helping ground commanders peer through the murkiness and confusion of war.

The 116th Air Control Wing at Robins is the nation's only Joint STARS unit. About one-third of its 17 aircraft along with flight, mission and maintenance crews are deployed at any given time.

Maj. Terrance Linn was the mission crew commander on the aircraft that crossed the 20,000-hour mark a few days ago. He said the longevity is a credit to the staying power of the system and the value placed in it by commanders on the ground.

"We've had the opportunity to grow and mature the system and improve our tactics in a very short period of time," Linn said by telephone Wednesday from his deployed location. "We've been able to use a lot of our capabilities, make them better and figure out how to better employ the platform overall."

The Joint STARS radar can surveil more than 150 miles, giving its 18 on-board mission crew members an instantaneous view of all ground movement. Sophisticated computers and communications gear then permit immediate contact with airborne and ground commanders.

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