After a lengthy period of refinement, Australia is now fully confident in its fleet of Boeing E-7A Wedgetail airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) jets.
The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) was the first service in the world to field the 737-derived platform, with the type making regular appearances at the biannual Avalon air show near Melbourne since Boeing delivered the first two examples in 2009.
A single E-7A from RAAF Williamtown in Newcastle is in attendance at this year’s show.
With the full complement of six aircraft now in service, the RAAF is operating the E-7A in global hotspots and leading the training of future Wedgetail crews for Canberra’s allies.
“It’s been an excellent platform for us,” says RAAF Squadron Leader Daniel Dobbin in an interview with FlightGlobal.
That assessment follows a six-month deployment to Germany that concluded in 2024, during which an E-7A and some 100 RAAF personnel deployed to Germany in support of the NATO mission to supply Ukraine with critical munitions and military hardware.
The Australian Wedgetail logged some 250 flight hours providing early warning for potential threats from Russia outside of Ukraine. The mission also served as a demonstration of the E-7’s capability for the USA, UK and NATO headquarters, all of which now plan to field their own Wedgetail fleets to replace the ageing Boeing E-3 Sentry.
Dobbin says it is “difficult to understate” the degree of improvement between to two aircraft, particularly with the E-7A’s Northrop Grumman Multi-Role Electronically Scanned Array surveillance radar.
The dorsal-mounted sensor is able to track aerial and maritime targets while maintaining continuous surveillance of an operational area, according to Northrop.
“The aircraft performed exceptionally well in that theatre and by all accounts our NATO and US partners were very happy with the performance,” Dobbin says of the Germany deployment.
Before that, the RAAF E-7A fleet had already logged more than 6,900 combat flight hours over 550 frontline missions in the Middle East from 2014 to 2020, supporting the US-led campaign in Iraq to defeat the Islamic State terrorist group.
During that effort, Canberra says individual E-7A crews regularly managed more than 80 aircraft in an assigned battle area.
Australia and its allies are leveraging that experience to train American and British personnel, as their services ramp toward fielding the 737-based Wedgetail.
London is set to receive the first of three planned aircraft later this year, while Washington expects delivery of two prototype examples from Boeing around 2028, launching a projected fleet of 26 aircraft.
NATO’s fleet of six E-7As is projected to reach initial operational capability in 2031.
At home, Australia is rolling out plans to modernise its own Wedgetails, with Canberra earlier this month committing to spend some $358 million (A$569) over the next decade to upgrade and maintain the RAAF’s E-7A fleet.
“This will not only contribute to the security of our region, but helps support the Australian defence industry and secure jobs,” says deputy prime minister and defence minister Richard Marles.
South Korea and Turkey also operate the Wedgetail.
