MPs raise alarm over RAF Wedgetail delay

MPs recently raised serious concerns over the UK’s air surveillance capability as the RAF’s E-7 Wedgetail programme faces continued delays and questions mount over its strategic resilience.

Leading a Westminster Hall debate recently, Conservative MP for Dumfries and Galloway John Cooper warned that the gap left by the retirement of the E-3D Sentry aircraft has created a “credibility gap” in British air power.

“The RAF has a problem: it cannot offer a complete package,” Cooper told the chamber. “We could be reliant on NATO allies to give us extra cover.” He noted that while one Wedgetail is due to fly at this week’s Royal International Air Tattoo, none of the three UK-ordered platforms is yet fully certified for military operations.

Labour’s Tan Dhesi, a member of the Defence Select Committee, said the current state of the programme was “wholly inadequate” and criticised the 40% cut to the original five-aircraft fleet, made to achieve just 12% in cost savings. “Somebody needs to get a grip on this programme,” Dhesi said, calling for urgent closure of the UK’s early warning capability gap.

The E-7 Wedgetail, based on the Boeing 737 and equipped with a powerful Multi-role Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) radar, is already in frontline use with the Royal Australian Air Force. But the UK programme, announced in 2019, has slipped by at least two years. Cooper stressed the platform’s importance in providing “real-time 360-degree situational awareness of the battlespace” and compared the current deficiency to “relying on the mark one eyeball.”

Conservative MP Mark Francois used the opportunity to welcome Air Marshal Harv Smyth’s appointment as the new Chief of the Air Staff. “He is what the Americans would call a warfighter,” Francois said. “He and Sir Rich Knighton will provide a powerful team in the defence of the United Kingdom.”

Labour MP Dr Zubir Ahmed spoke on the economic importance of the Wedgetail programme, highlighting the role of Thales in Glasgow, which is producing the aircraft’s threat warning system. “Will [the Member] celebrate the contribution of Scottish firms to the defence of our realm?” Ahmed asked.

Cooper welcomed the industrial impact but launched a scathing attack on the Scottish Government’s lack of support for defence innovation. He claimed that ministers in Edinburgh had refused to fund a new Rolls-Royce welding centre of excellence in Clydebank, while the UK Government was prepared to “back it to the hilt.” He called the SNP’s defence posture “fifth-columnist” and “quite remarkable.”

Cooper also addressed concerns raised in Washington about the survivability of the Wedgetail platform in a contested airspace. He quoted US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth describing the aircraft as “not survivable in the modern battlefield.” With the US reportedly exploring alternatives, including legacy E-2D Hawkeye aircraft and future satellite constellations, doubts remain over Wedgetail’s longevity.

Concluding, Cooper said he hoped the Minister would “give the House some assurance that it is not the Ajax of the skies.”

A formal ministerial reply is expected following the summer recess.