This article is about a military electronic system. For other uses, see Pave (disambiguation).
PAVE is a United States Air Force program identifier relating to electronic systems. Prior to 1979, Pave was said to be a code word for the Air Force unit responsible for the project.[1][2]Pave was used as an inconsequential prefix identifier for a wide range of different programs,[3] though backronyms and alternative meanings have been used.[4] For example, in the helicopters Pave Low and Pave Hawk it was said to mean Precision Avionics Vectoring Equipment,[4] but in PAVE PAWS it was said to mean Precision Acquisition Vehicle Entry.[3]
Pave Hawk – Sikorsky HH-60 Pave Hawk special operations and combat search and rescue helicopter.
Pave Nail - OV-10 Bronco with Pave Spot target laser designator pod.
Pave Knife – Ford Aerospace AN/AVQ-10 Pave Knife early laser targeting pod.
Pave Low – Sikorsky MH-53 Pave Low special ops and combat search and rescue helicopter.
Pave Mint – Upgrade of the AN/ALQ-117 electronic warfare system to the AN/ALQ-172.
Pave Mover – Demonstration program to develop the AN/APY-7 radar wide-area surveillance, ground moving target indicator (GMTI), fixed target indicator (FTI) target classification, and synthetic aperture radar (SAR), for the E-8 Joint STARS.
Pave Onyx – Vietnam era Advanced Location Strike System c.1973.[5]
Pave Pace – A fully integrated avionics architecture featuring functional resource allocation.
PAVE PAWS – The Phased-Array Warning System which replaced the three BMEWS radars. Pave in this case is a backronym for Perimeter[6] or Precision Acquisition Vehicle Entry.[3]