Wedgetail beats use-by date, joins US forces

The RAAF’s Boeing E-7A Wedgetail is the world’s preeminent Airborne Early Warning and Control platform, and will be adopted by all three AUKUS partners.

Boeing’s E-7A Wedgetail is the world’s preeminent Airborne Early Warning and Control platform, and will be adopted by all three AUKUS partners. Picture: Department of Defence

The Royal Australian Air Force’s Boeing E-7A Wedgetail is today the world’s pre-eminent Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) platform.

Based on the Boeing 737 commercial airliner, the Wedgetail established itself with benchmark AEW&C capability in the decade-long war in Iraq and Syria and has placed the RAAF and Boeing Defence Australia at the forefront of operational knowledge and support for the platform.

From being on Defence’s projects of concern list a decade ago and initially only adopted by Australia, South Korea and Turkey, the Wedgetail has recently been selected by both the UK and the US, meaning all three AUKUS partners will soon be operating the same platform.

Buoyed by this success Boeing sees further export opportunities in the future.

Scott Carpendale, Boeing Defence Australia’s managing director and one-time head of the Australian Wedgetail program notes that its success is due in no small way to the government and the RAAF, who have both done much to mature its capability to the present day.

“The Wedgetail capability for Australia continues to perform extremely well operationally and we continue to support it,” he says.

“The investment Defence is making in upgrades to that capability assures operational relevance for some time.

“We now have investment in the evolution of that capability – not just from the RAAF, but from the UK and US, essentially reinvigorating the production line.

“The ability for us to invest in addressing obsolescence and maturing capability provides an opportunity for evolution that is beyond the existing plan first funded by the Australian government.”

The existing plan is addressing a range of obsolescence issues and improving the Wedgetail’s interoperability with Australia’s allies and partners. This work includes updating the aircraft’s avionics systems, adding wideband satellite communications (SATCOM) systems and upgrading its primary sensor, the Northrop Grumman Multi-role Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) radar.

The work is being undertaken in a number of tranches, but Boeing’s success in selling the aircraft to the UK and US will provide opportunities to enhance Wedgetails’ capabilities even further, taking it well beyond its original planned withdrawal date in the early 2030s.

“That’s exciting in terms of expanding Wedgetail capability and leveraging the interest and support from those other countries to make sure we can continue to evolve it,” Carpendale adds.

“I think it’s important to recognise that it’s not a diminishing capability, it’s quite the opposite – it’s an increasingly relevant capability.”

The UK originally requested five Wedgetails in 2019, but this was reduced to just three two years later due to budget constraints and the in-service date has also slipped from 2023 to at least 2024.

Despite this the head of Britain’s Royal Air Force, Air Chief Marshal Mike Wigston testified before a parliamentary committee in London in February to argue for the number of platforms to be restored to five.

In March the US government awarded Boeing a contract to start work on 26 Wedgetails for the US Air Force (USAF), following the platform’s selection as the sole candidate to replace and supplant its existing – and ageing – E-3 Sentry fleet last year.

The USAF is now exploring ways to accelerate the US program, with production of the first two aircraft to begin in 2025 and entry into service just two years later. By 2032, the USAF wants all 26 aircraft in service.

“The Wedgetail is truly the world’s greatest AEW&C capability and we’re very proud of the role we play working alongside the RAAF in maturing the capability to have the relevance it does today,” Carpendale explains.

“It really is world class and as Australians we should all be proud of what we’ve delivered.”