The Royal Air Force (RAF), Royal Australian Airforce (RAAF), and the United States Air Force (USAF) have come together at the Royal International Air Tattoo to sign a joint vision statement.

This agreement outlines a trilateral collaboration for developing the originally Australian-developed Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft, held by each of their respective countries.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Rich Knighton of the RAF, General Charles Q. Brown Jr. of the USAF, and Air Marshal Robert Chipman of the RAAF participated in the signing ceremony at RAF Fairford in Gloucester.

This tri-nation commitment extends to various aspects of the Wedgetail aircraft, including “capability development, evaluation & testing, interoperability, sustainment, operations, training, and safety.”

On this occasion, Gen. Brown said, “The signing of this Joint Vision Statement by our three Air Forces is an exciting opportunity… Collaboration and interoperability are critical to our warfighting advantage, signing this joint vision statement represents another step in the long-term, enduring commitment we have to the future and to the security of our three countries.

Echoing Gen. Brown’s sentiments, Air Chief Marshal Sir Rich Knighton added, “The relationship between the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States is more robust than ever, and we share a mutual understanding of the challenges we face in the air domain and the need to address them.

Air Marshal Robert Chipman reiterated the importance of the joint vision statement, referring to it as “a testament to the close relationship shared historically by our three Air Forces.

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George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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Mark B
Mark B
1 year ago

Hopefully this might mean cheaper costs, British companies doing a share of the work and more aircraft dispersed across the globe and able to deter conflict.😀

Bob
Bob
1 year ago
Reply to  Mark B

Hopefully it means that the RAF will keep the Wedgetail’s capabilities current, unlike what happened with the E3s.

Paul Willmer
Paul Willmer
1 year ago
Reply to  Bob

Hopefully it means if costs come down we might get 5 (not holding my breath) seeing how we bought 5 sets of radars.

FormerUSAF
FormerUSAF
1 year ago
Reply to  Bob

Hmmm… intriguing. Believe this agreement heralds a process of ensuring Wedgetail remains viable for a generation, until unmanned alternative capability truly matures. RAF will probably ultimately procure at least five a/c, possibly more later. 🤔

FormerUSAF
FormerUSAF
1 year ago
Reply to  FormerUSAF

To a significant extent OT, but really have to praise those Aussies! Read an account that stated they are seriously contemplating transferring up to 41 withdrawn F/A F-18s (14 currently operational) to UKR as soon as early 2024! NATO should probably consider incorporating the type in sim based training, at least. (Believe there is a potential business opportunity for a Western company to provide depot level maintenance inside UKR.) Time to throw some shrimp on the barbie and crack open a Foster’s?!?

FormerUSAF
FormerUSAF
1 year ago
Reply to  FormerUSAF

…F/A-18s…🙄

Quentin D63
Quentin D63
1 year ago
Reply to  FormerUSAF

We also have good wines, choices of coffee, pizza’s, fish and chips, meats and other sea food and 🍻down here in 🇦🇺!

FormerUSAF
FormerUSAF
1 year ago
Reply to  Quentin D63

Yes indeed, remember a rather amusing varietal from (believe) Yellowtail Winery in the past. 🍷👍

grizzler
grizzler
1 year ago
Reply to  Quentin D63

Fish & Chips – cor blimey govnr – is that cod or plaice and are they battered chips

Alabama Boy
Alabama Boy
1 year ago
Reply to  Bob

Time will tell. When first purchased there was a similar expectation that the RAF would align its E3s with the latest developments in the US and NATO but after a few years the MOD decided they knew better and belived that competing support and upgrades would bring cheaper solutions. In the end they agreed a support contract which tied their hands in terms of flexibility and a planned major system upgrade was ditched because they allowed it to grow like topsy in scope making it unafffordable with little industry interest. They then turned back to Boeing but by then they… Read more »

Paul42
Paul42
1 year ago

First challenge to overcome is getting our order put back up to 5!!

Jim
Jim
1 year ago

Can’t believe we have 5 radars for 3 planes.

We really need to sort this out, it should be top procurement issue to over come.

Paul42
Paul42
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim

We bought 5 radars on the basis of having 5 planes, we just need to acquire two additional airframes now lol

Nick C
Nick C
1 year ago
Reply to  Paul42

If someone had thought ahead two or three years ago, when civil aviation was on its knees post pandemic, there would have been a good chance of picking up a couple of 737NG airframes, with low hours, for a reasonable price. Now the airlines are using everything they have as hard as possible the chances of that happening are slight to non existent.

Jon
Jon
1 year ago
Reply to  Nick C

issue was with the MAX issue 737NGs were rocking horse do do. hence the rise in there base price

Nick C
Nick C
1 year ago
Reply to  Jon

Not sure you are right. The 737NG is the build standard before the MAX, and is still in production for the Poseidon and the future USAF wedgetail. At least they didn’t show the same propensity for falling out of the sky!

Alabama Boy
Alabama Boy
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim

If all five radar systems have been built (which I doubt) we could sell 2 back to the USAF to help advance their pre production aircraft with a commitment from them to replace the two radars at a later date (if required). It will be interesting to see how successful the ongoing conversion of the 3 ordered E7s meet promised in service timescales given the nature of the conversion arrangements. Have we actually been given a promised in servcie date at full operational capability? It may be sensible for the UK to see out te current contract for 3 ac… Read more »

Geoff Roach
Geoff Roach
1 year ago

We want five?🤗

Robert Billington
Robert Billington
1 year ago

Should have happened years ago, why the fuck have five eyes not come together as a federation or at least CANZUK+USA??

Chris
Chris
1 year ago

It basically has, taking into consideration Canada and NZ are nearly useless.

Robert Billington
Robert Billington
1 year ago
Reply to  Chris

I see that Trudeau recently endorsed canzuk

Monty
Monty
1 year ago
Reply to  Chris

True. Australia has New Zealand and the USA has Canada. If Ireland joins NATO then the UK will also have a shielded moon.