The Royal Air Force (RAF) is celebrating another achievement in its E-7 Wedgetail AEW1 Programme.
Wing Commander Sarah McDonnell, Officer Commanding VIII Squadron (Designate), has recently completed her qualification on the E-7 Wedgetail aircraft.
This qualifying course was delivered by both the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and Boeing Australia, and it saw its culmination with Wg Cdr McDonnell’s graduation in the Summer of 2023.
The comprehensive training included classroom-based sessions, simulator instruction, and live flying exercises with the RAAF E-7A Wedgetail. In one of the final exercises, the Wedgetail collaborated closely with F-35 Lightning.
Upon her graduation, Wg Cdr McDonnell expressed her anticipation to further serve in the programme: “This is another milestone in my journey towards commanding No 8 Squadron in the not-too-distant future, which is a real privilege. I absolutely love this new capability and the camaraderie I felt working as part of a crew again reminded me of my time on the E-3D Sentry.”
She also shared her gratitude and excitement about learning from the RAAF team: “I have learned so much from the RAAF team and I’m hugely grateful for their continued and unwavering support. I am extremely proud to be joining the team of UK qualified E-7 Wedgetail operators, but more importantly as a collective we cannot wait to return to the UK and start flying our own Wedgetail AEW1.”
The RAF has invested in three such aircraft, presently under modification by STS Aviation at Birmingham Airport. The inaugural handover to the RAF is projected for late 2024, with RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland set to house the fleet.
Is it a Milestone that one person has qualified on type ?
I think you need more than one crew per plane to use at any intensity?
One thing RAF used to be good at was maximising utilisation of frames.
Agreed as a minimum.. should have ordered 7
Minimum number must be 5, three is for nothing.
3 was the bare bones minimum number so they could claim the UK has an AWACS capability. Pathetic cutback really all to save a miserly sum of money that Whitehall could waste in a split second on some woke equality and inclusion scheme.
It’s about what we can afford with the equipment budget available, set against the wider defence needs. If the money was available for 5, we would get 5. So what would you sacrifice to get 5. Cancel a T26? Further reduce CH3 numbers? Cancel a few of those new Chinooks or Apaches. That is the reality of the situation. We have £242Bn budget for equipment from 2022 to 2032. Only so much can be squeezed out of that budget.
You are of course assuming all monies are spent without wastage – and therefore we must sacrifice something to get something .
I would posit an alternative where there is a lot of waste and its the processes that need to be more cost efficient in order to get more bang for our buck.
the amount they saved by cutting from 5 to 3 was apparently tiny.
We could start by mothballing one of the RN’s 65,000 ton white elephant aircraft carriers. With the support required to operate then, combined with the least capable but most expensive F’35B variant, they disproportionally suck defence spending. Our real threat is from Russia and Putin in particular. This should be our No 1 priority not posturing in the South China Sea.
New milestone no planes to be delivered and we have Russian aircraft patrol the UK maratime airspace instead since they won’t fuck off and for some reason making cuts is in vogue.
“RAF Lossiemouth set to host the fleet in late 2024”
Can you call 3 aircraft a fleet?
I’d say it’s a brace or a flight…not a fleet.
A fleet would be say 7 aircraft or any other decent number.
If you read the article closely you will see that all that is ‘projected’ (current best guess) is when the first airframe will be handed over to the RAF at Lossie late 2024. It doesn’t state at what standard- the first aircraft will be – the RAF is a past master of muddying IOC (Initial Operating Capability) with FOC (Full Operating Capability). IOC is a standard less than the full Requirement but with some operational use. FOC is supposedly when all requirements for the full standard have been met. It is entirely possible the first aircraft is not at full… Read more »
With everything new into service in the RN you end up with a book load of Certificates of Clearance for Use that detail issues with a system and how to do workarounds. Usually, you need to clear these to get full capability. However, its not unusual for systems to come into service and leave service with CCUs still in place. Some are major issues and are cleared quickly…others are not worth the time or effort to clear. The IOC to FOC period highlights these issues and allow the Platform desk to find solutions with the manufacturer. It doesn’t mean the… Read more »
Aircraft clearances are very different from the RN and an aircraft cannot afford “eccentricates” especially where it impacts safety of flight or major systems in which case the MMA will not give it clearance to fly or operate the equipet affected. . I didn’t suggest the kit is useless just that the timescales are extended and were unrealistic from the outset hence my criticism of the decision to sell off/scrap the E3s and take a Capability Gap. .
WE WANT FIVE ✈
No we don’t, we need seven as a one for one replacement of AWACS. Chance of that occurring before hell freezes over- zero.
No argument here. 🙂
I once posted a comment on this sight about Challenger barrels. I muted the idea it was another cost cutting exercise by the MOD. I was told basically you do not know what you are talking about and that modern ammo makes it different. I noticed the Ukrainians using rifle bore Challengers refer to them as” sniper tanks. ” Now I am assuming they have some knowledge of the capabilities of the Leopard 2 tank. As with wedgetails this is another example of bean counters interference in matters, yes and probably like me, only having a superficial understanding.
Slight inaccuracy in the report. Since the course was conducted in Australia and the summer of 2023 has happened in the southern hemisphere yet, technically the pilot graduated in the winter of 2023.
You’re welcome. 😉
Clever clogs 🙂
Everyone knows 3 is a ridiculously small and ineffective number to meet the demands expected of them.
Also how comes Sentinel was seen as a key capability all through Op Herrick and extended in service multiple times but there as been virtually no mention of any kind of new/legacy ISTAR capability since they were ditched overnight a couple of years back?
Lot’s of commentators at the time seemed to think mission modules could be added to Posiedon / Protector to make up for the shortfall but it seems to have died a death!
Commanding a squadron of…..3 aircraft.
Jolly good 🙄
Same as 51 squadron and 1 aircraft more than 32 squadron…
3 and we spend 8m quid a day on illegals because someone cannot grow a set! Disgusting
It’s not a set that’s needed. It’s to properly set up the processing centres to get the paper work done in a reasonable time. 4 weeks per application. If it’s complicated 8 weeks. Then if u fail they deport. It can be appealed from the returned country.
The government have let this go on for years.
The press don’t help either. Remember the Eastern European panic when the freedom of movement kicked in.
If the system can handle a million a week then anything up to that can be dealt with. It’s the system that’s broken.
Righto but the pressing question is even IF we could process quickly how do you process anybody with no ID?🤔 it’s funny how they can ‘acquire’ a name for their asylum claim though!
£8 mill a day ?
“A growing amount of UK aid has been spent on UK-based refugees, with spending increasing from £410 million in 2016 to £3,686 million in 2022″
Thats £10 mill pd now and almost 30% of the so called ‘Foreign aid’ budget where its hidden away
Civil Service wanted to recruit 500 admin officers to undertake the paperwork. One person applied in November last year. They got their security questionnaire on Friday!
In May, they applied for another Govt Dept, they start today.
True, the vetting agency is way behind. Not unusual for a review to be delayed by a couple of years.
Commision the other two airframes so we can have a credible 24/7 AWACS coverage. Budget basement Tory sleezoconmics has put the nation at terrible risk. Out “world beating” armed forces did nothing to deter Rusia’s invasion & war against UKR & has simply allowed Puting to operate with a free hand, escalating at will.
Even 5 doesn’t give credible 24/7 coverage, if you put it over North Sea it can’t see up North and vice versa, if you say we need 24/7 we need lot more than 5 prob 10 then you might be able to cover but still not comprehensive UK approaches
One person Qualified on RAAF E7 is hardly a milestone of any significance. It also dosn’t detail her position on the aircraft – pilot?Aircraft Commander? or Mission Cew Commander ? etc.Will she be a full time menber of a constitured crew or a Sqn Exc ? I understood a number of other RAF aircrew have been trained on the aircraft possibly for some time. A future Sqn Cdr is hardly noteworthy – a far more meanngful milestone would be a complete crew covering all positions on the aircraft or a full shift of engineers for 1st or 2nd line support.… Read more »
Your missing the crucial point about this story, the Commander is a female and not a white male. This is vitally important to the RAF leadership.
Of less importance is the huge capability gap for the country, the inadequate number of airframes ordered and the waste of buying 5 radars all whilst a war rages in Europe.
Spot on!
Well it is 1 more than USAF has. It looks like E7 training is a step up from E3 training. RAF better get stuck in before USAF start knocking (or else start learning Korean or Turkish).
Anyone who uses the phrase “my journey” should be be court marshaled ..and shot at dawn…
It is to be hoped the MOD finds sufficient funding this time to maintain necessary mission software, as well as modification updates, which were not achieved with the 7 Sentries.
I think it came out in the various Parliamentary select ctttee stuff, is that we actually purchased 5 radar sets, and so NOT buying the other two airframes to stick them on was a false economy.
If the Brave Ukraine Nation does not prevail against Russian Fascist Tyrant Dictator/his Kremlin Henchman & Dictator/Warlord allies. UK will be in deep, deep muck. as far as the nations defence is concerned. Tory Navy. Army. Airforce 13 years of to deep, to fast cuts. Not enough Aircraft of all types or Pilots. Only 1500 in RAF Regiment. A lot of airfields have been sold off. Yes. Ship Yards seem full of modern warships being built. More frontline warships being decommissioned than being commissioned. So ships not being replaced like for like. Army now smallest since Napoleonic wars & fighting… Read more »
Aye these fascist tyrants are all over the shop now. Just this week the dictatorship of Justin Castro in NATO Canada welcomed a former VOLUNTEER Nazi SS combatant from the 14th Waffen Grenadier division. The same SS responsible for a litany of war crimes including the murder of captured Canadian soldiers in Normandy in 1944. The henchmen and women in the Canadian parliament of course all clapping like seals ,beaming grins basking in the adornment of honouring a real life living Nazi with the brave commander in chief of Ukraine a man who has no problem with Fascists looking like… Read more »
the RAAF has six and this is a lot like the SSN’s purchase. We, AUKUS need to share the development, manufacture, implementation, operation, support and repair together.
Have the capacity to overhaul / repair aircraft and SSN’s out of theatre is important.
As soon a the US ramps production of their 26 E7’s the cost will come down and the UK and AU can keep that line running. AU needs more too and they will be approaching 30 years old at the end of the run.