Until May 1991, the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) was carried on board militarized 707s. In December 1991, Boeing announced it would offer a modified 767 commercial jetliner as the platform for the system. The first 767 AWACS, designated E-767, made its first flight Aug. 9, 1996, with the distinctive 30-foot rotodome mounted atop its fuselage. AWACS is the world's standard for airborne early warning systems. It supplies tactical and air defense forces with surveillance, and command and control communications. Its flexible, multimode radar, in a rotating radome mounted above the fuselage, allows AWACS to separate maritime and airborne targets from ground and sea clutter. It has a 360-degree view of an area and at operating altitudes can detect, identify and display targets more than 200 miles away. In March 2002, the 767 manufacturing program converted to a moving line system, replacing the old station to station method of assembly pictured here.