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 In December 2020, only three remained in service after one was withdrawn from service in 2009 to be used as spares, two were withdrawn in March 2019 and a further one withdrawn in January 2020.
🚨 NEWS | A source close to the now-retired British E-3D Sentry fleet has told me that Chile is looking to purchase "more than one" retired E-3D aircraft. pic.twitter.com/YQwqQCoVYK
— George Allison (@geoallison) January 18, 2022
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.
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:
Really pleased to see the first two of our Wedgetails coming together. Great team @STSAviation with @BoeingDefense that will give us a World-leading Air command & control capability. pic.twitter.com/aPEU3d3DOu
— Air Marshal Andrew Turner, Royal Air Force (@AndrewTurnerRAF) November 22, 2021
STS Aviation is converting three Boeing 737 airliners into E-7 Wedgetail airborne early warning aircraft at its facility at Birmingham Airport.
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.
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.”
Its remarkable how much more capable Chile is than its neighbour Argentina, courtesy of us and the Americans
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.
We have withdrawn our E3s before E7 comes online leaving a capability gap……plus of course we have cut E7 to just 3 which only guarantees availability of just 1 airframe…..
This is typical of the MoD – withdraw a perfectly good piece of equipment, some years before a replacement is ready for service! We all know this has gone on for many years and always leaves the UK with a capability gap. However, I think the general attitude has been that, as we are members of NATO, our partners will provide any essential cover that is required.
Yes I suppose the UK fills more than a few gaps in the abilities of our allies.
Yeah, you would’ve thought they would have learned their lesson from scrapping the Nimrods without a replacement ready.
You have to understand that with the Current typhoon and F35s and the retiring of the Tranche 1 typhoon and T1Hawk, We dont actually need a E3s . and by the time the E3s were inspected and serviced the E7s are here. R1 Sentinal fell the same way we have no requirement for that type currently.
The UK has a more capable fleet by far, of course, but the two are on a completely different level.
Relative to its size and funding, Chile seems to be getting better value for money.
Chile is get 2-3 old,very high maintenance aircraft. Will they have the funds to maintain them, and fund flying hours that come close to daily flying the RAF enjoyed.
Quite possibly, I wonder what our maintenance cost will be?
Navair Projects F-35 to Need 50 Maintenance Hours per Flight Hour
https://www.defense-aerospace.com/articles-view/feature/5/179243/navair-projects-f_35-to-need-50-maintenance-hours-per-flight-hour.html
Navair
“The laser shock peening modification is essential to extending the life of the F-35B STOVL variant, and the ability to complete this procedure successfully allows FRC East to support this critical workload,” said FRCE Commanding Officer Col. Thomas A. Atkinson.”
https://www.navair.navy.mil/news/FRCE-completes-verification-laser-peening-process/Thu-12302021-1018
Pardon the cynic in me, but I do wonder when this Government will sell off the Wedgetail
When it becomes obsolete which should be quite soon
Chile are the best and oldest friends we have in South America. Good deal for all concerned.
Even though they now recognise Argies claim the Falkland Islands
Yep. The Chilean govt officially does as do Colombia and Brazil for example. Unofficially !
The Chinese claim the entire planet …. or is that tomorrows news.
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.
👍
Meanwhile Janes is currently reporting this story:
I’m not surprised.
They have plenty of life left in them and are the useful variants.
Which of course is why the UK is ditching them…..
And where does all the sales revenue go? Hopefully not wasted somewhere else but on some needed newer or updated kit.
Hopefully not the treasury.
To be fair, they are ‘heavily used’ and would all have required wing center box replacement sooner than later among other rework.
I’ve no particular issue ditching them, providing we get another 8/9 A400’s to make up the lost airlift.
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.
Yes, a pity we didn’t buy a few more while we had the chance.
“Britain’s armed forces have flown some 2,000 anti-tank weapons to Ukraine this week amid fears of an imminent, new Russian invasion.
George Allison, of the UK Defence Journal, a website focused on defence news, posted on Twitter a time-lapse of the flights, which he said began on Monday.”
https://news.sky.com/story/russia-invasion-fears-as-britain-sends-2-000-anti-tank-weapons-to-ukraine-12520950
Hats off to the Brits for doing something while Biden does absolutely nothing and tells Putin it’s ok to invade Ukraine. Ugh
I wish Republicans would get their story straight — you can’t seem to decide whether it’s “Biden does nothing to counter Russia”, or “Everything Putin says and does is correct and we should respect it” Make your minds up, guys.
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… Read more »
if you painted them white with a red cross on there you would hugely restrict what they could be used for.
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,… Read more »
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.
This is the real travesty
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
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… Read more »
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
Meanwhile on the 18th January…https://planefinder.net/flight/SOLEX1/time/2022-01-18T11:05:00.000Z/speed/1
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