EXCLUSIVE – A source close to the now-retired E-3D Sentry fleet has told the UK Defence Journal that Chile jas purchased retired E-3D aircraft from Britain.

One of the aircraft has already been sold to the United States, to be used as a dedicated trainer supporting its E-6B Mercury airborne communications and command post fleet.

The UK originally operated seven of the aircraft type. In December 2020, only three remained in service after one was withdrawn from service in 2009 to be used as spares, two were withdrawn in March 2019 and a further one withdrawn in January 2020.

It was unknown how many Chile intend to purchase but I have been told that it will be “more than one”, however today (19th of January) it was confirmed that three have been sold.

I have contacted the Ministry of Defence for comment on this news and I will update this article when I receive a response.

The ‘E-3D’ variant features CFM56 engines and some British modifications and was designated Sentry AEW.1 in RAF service. Modifications included the addition of a refuelling probe next to the existing boom AAR receptacle, wingtip ESM pods, an enhanced Maritime Surveillance Capability offering ‘Maritime Scan-Scan Processing’ plus JTIDS and Havequick 2 radios.

An E-7 Wedgetail.

The RAF’s E-3 Sentry airborne early warning aircraft fleet was retired in September with their replacement, the E-7 Wedgetail, not due until 2023. The UK will rely on the NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control Force to plug the gap.

The first two of three E-7 Wedgetail airborne early warning aircraft for the Royal Air Force are starting to take shape. Air Marshal Andrew Turner of the Royal Air Force tweeted the following:

STS Aviation is converting three Boeing 737 airliners into E-7 Wedgetail airborne early warning aircraft at its facility at Birmingham Airport.

An E-7 Wedgetail of the Royal Australian Air Force. Photo by Bidgee [CC BY-SA 3.0], from Wikimedia Commons.

Wedgetail is an airborne early warning and control system, commonly known as AWACs or AEW&C. They are designed to track multiple targets at sea or in the air over a considerable area for long periods of time. This aircraft is replacing the E-3D Sentry, pictured below.

FILE PHOTO: E-3D Sentry

The plan, previously, was five aircraft but the recent ‘Defence Command Paper’ reduced the order from five to three. The Defence Command Paper released, titled ‘Defence in a Competitive Age’, stated:

“We will retire the E 3D Sentry in 2021, as part of the transition to the more modern and more capable fleet of three E 7A Wedgetail in 2023. The E 7A will transform our UK Airborne Early Warning and Control capability and the UK’s contribution to NATO. The nine P 8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft will help to secure our seas.”

The first of the E-7 Wedgetails purchased by the UK to replace the E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning And Control aircraft will arrive in 2023.

George Allison
George Allison
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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47 COMMENTS

  1. Its remarkable how much more capable Chile is than its neighbour Argentina, courtesy of us and the Americans

  2. Bad choice by us to retire E3D early, good choice by Chile to buy the remaining 3 airworthy examples. I cannot help but think they have far more common sense than the UK will ever have lol……

    • Why’s that then? we are buying a far more capable aircraft. Alongside the P8 fleet and Protector UAV’S, plus the RC135 and Shadow fleets, we are increasing our AEW and ISTAR capability.

      • It doesn’t really add up to anything though, they are just walking the regional political tripwire…

        Having good relations with their neighbours makes good common sense and if means playing lip service to Argentine ‘relentless’ whining about Falklands, then so be it…

        Peel away the politico speak and take note regarding this AWAC sale and Type 23 upgrades etc and you see where Chile’s loyalty really lie.

    • I really hope there is plenty of life left in our C17s or we will be reliant on the A400 “Jack of all Trades” – too large for some tactical roles and too small for strategic lift.

      • The Moose (C17) is a BOSS. It will last for decades and decades.

        It will probably go down in history as the most capable airlifter of all time. Need a 70 ton main battle tank delivered to a dirt strip in the mountains 6,000 miles away? No problem. It’ll do a tactical descent and approach when it gets there too.

    • Yeep saw that. I keep asking myself if it would not be better to sell these aircraft to the Department for International Aid, paint them white with a big red cross on the side and have international rescue. It would mean we keep the capability, reduce air frame time on RAF transport fleet and in times of need the RAF could take them back under their control.

      • I like the idea.

        In reality, is it doable? Who crews? Spares, base, fuel costs, all still needed. I assume they lack the expertise so would still be MoD covering that?

        • Hi DM, I did do some thinking on these issues, so lets start with the easiest ones first. Spares, I would think that the RAF has a spares supply so that should take care of the next few years as they would be handed over to the Dof IA with the purchase of the aircraft. Base, an RAF or civilian airfield that is underused. An example could be Cardiff Airport at the moment Cardiff is operating well below capacity. Fuel cost, I am not sure how it works at the moment, but I would think that the RAF puts a cost charge into the D of IA when they use their aircraft. So the cost of fuel etc would come from the International Aid budget or orginisations such as the International Red Cross, UN etc as these aircraft would be at their disposal.

          Now comes the tricky bit crew and maintance engineers, I can see that coming from four diffrent areas, the first area is crews under training. You can have a civilian multi engine licence but you still need extra training for the RAF.
          The second area is ex military pilots and engineers.
          Third would be international pilots and engineers from either Commonwealth nations or NATO nations.
          Finally some RAF crews, there is more than one crew per aircraft inh the RAF and at the same time pilots do need to log x amount of flight hours per year. Payment of crews would come from the RAF, International Aid and any other orginisation that uses the aircraft such as the UN International Red Cross etc. If they do not pay directly then these payments could come out of the International Aid or UN contribution to Aid.
          I am sure if someone really thinks about it it should work.

        • Simon, hi, not sure if you picked up on what I replied to. It was a photo of the Hercs that are to be taking out of service posted by Farouk. As they are transport aircraft I can see no reason why they could not be used by the International Aid Department for humanitarian reasons and then if need be returned to RAF use in times of national need. So that is the reason that I said if you want paint them white with a big red cross on them, or a big Union Flag with British Aid on them, or Sky Blue and UN aid. It is an idea on how to keep the capability whilst reducing MoD cost.

          • I think the issue is paint them white with a red cross. You cant them being using them for example delivering arms. simlear probloms were raised with the hospital ship

          • True, that is why I suggest that the herc get transfered to the International Aid Department, if an arms run is needed then they must go back to RAF control and painted in RAF colours. Yes this is the same problem with a hospital ship, yet these issues can be overcome by just following the rules.

  6. We could need these aircraft at the moment, even if the software is a bit dated it would be better to have something than nothing in the current situation. I wonder who is doing the upgrades for Chile.

    • Lockheed Martin has opened offices in Santiago Chile now and direct services for their Herks fleet and “ others” needs

  7. The gap left by retiring the E-3 sentry early is to be filled by the NATO E-3 aircraft. How this will work in practice I don’t know tho. They obviously feel it is an acceptable risk to take. There’s no point have old unreliable kit that doesn’t work when it’s needed to. It just soaks up money that’s needed else where. In an ideal world we would of spent the billions keeping the sentry aircraft upto date and flying for longer. But the monies got spent else where. Same with sentinel aircraft etc.
    I think UK gave up on trying to keep old expensive kit running and puts that money into new kit. When it came to the crunch like falklands, gulf war the services found some of the items they had kept were useless or a liability.
    It’s all money really. Hopefully the professionals know what they are doing.
    Are chile going to operate them as E-3 or are they just for spares etc

    • Definitely makes sense to sell them while the MoD can get some money for them instead of keeping them until they’re useless and then having to pay for them to be scrapped.

      • How much money they will get we will wait and see. I doubt it’s much. It depends if chile is taking the airframes only or all the systems as well. There options would be use as spares for other 707 related aircraft. Use as awacs as they are. Upgrade the equipment if obsolescence is an issue.
        Full upgrade to latest E-3 standard.
        Take the kit they have on there current awacs aircraft and move it to these aircraft. If there current issue is airframe life in the current platform they use

  9. Based on the status of Ex HMS Ocean, which has been to sea 4 weeks since handing over to Chilie, these Very old very tired Airframes, will maybe fly once a month, yet currently are flying more hours in RAF service and have been retired. and currently we have no use for a AWACS as the TYPHOON and F35s dont need one.

    • HMS Ocean was purchased by the Brazilian Navy. The Chilean Goverment “ blinked” and the Brazilians got in, while the Chileans were at sleep

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