Britain remains open to buying additional E-7 Wedgetail airborne early warning aircraft, but any further procurement will depend on available funding, Defence Minister Luke Pollard has said.
The update came in response to a written parliamentary question from Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty, who asked what progress had been made on Recommendation 47 of the 2025 Strategic Defence Review, including maintaining the aircraft and exploring further procurement through cost-sharing arrangements with NATO allies.
Pollard confirmed that Defence will take responsibility for maintaining the UK’s E-7 fleet once the aircraft have formally entered service.
He said: “The MOD will assume responsibility for maintaining the E-7 Wedgetail aircraft once they are accepted into service.”
Preparations for that transition are already under way, with personnel being trained to support the aircraft ahead of Initial Operating Capability.
Pollard said: “In preparation, training of maintenance personnel is already underway as part of wider efforts to establish and sustain the UK E-7 enterprise ahead of Initial Operating Capability.”
The E-7 Wedgetail is intended to provide the RAF with airborne early warning and control capability, using its radar and mission systems to detect and track aircraft and other threats while helping coordinate friendly forces across a wide area.
The UK programme has attracted significant amount of scrutiny over the size of the planned fleet, particularly after the number of aircraft was reduced from the original order. Recommendation 47 of the Strategic Defence Review called for the existing E-7 capability to be maintained while exploring options to procure additional aircraft, including through cost-sharing arrangements with NATO allies.
On further procurement, however, Pollard of course stopped short of announcing a new order or confirming that a NATO cost-sharing arrangement had been agreed.
He said: “The UK remains open to exploring all opportunities for future E-7 Wedgetail procurement, subject to the availability of funding.”
The wording leaves open the possibility of expanding the fleet in future, but makes clear that no additional purchase has yet been committed.
For the immediate programme, the focus remains on bringing the existing aircraft into service and establishing the personnel, maintenance and support structure needed to sustain them.
A further buy of AEW aircraft should be the number one priority right now along side ABM capability.
The fact that it’s not shows how the MoD actually perceives the “imminent threat of war”
Hard to make a case to the treasury for tax rises or gutting the NHS when the vast majority of your extra funding goes on pet projects primarily designed around fighting distant wars in support of US operations while you start cutting Reserve and Cadet numbers instead of growing them like everyone else.
Getting the country on a total war footing obviously revolves around pouring billion into a single regiment with just a few hundred people in it. That will totally stop a mechanised army invading Eastern Europe 🤦♂️
Reserve and Cadet numbers are going up Jim. The only pet project in the pipeline is GCAP. All the other funding is going directly into war fighting capabilities and drones (ie kill webs, FPV and long range strike.). Nowhere is the MOD, the military or politicians talking about distant wars in support of US operations.
I hope so, Bob.
My Cousin’s daughter is a senior Cadet instructor ( unsure of the proper title without asking her ) with a Rifles Det in the Gloucester area, and she is frustrated at how nothing at all seems to be improving.
Cadet force expansion has been pushed back from 2030 to 2035. Good news again from the Whitehall idiots.
Another useless drug crazed post from the little faggot.
I take it that was a snipe at the SAS, Jim?
We’re vastly better off with such a SF capability than without.
Maybe no one has told him that the Mechanised Army that he is talking about it completely useless even against Infantry ! Or that the same country and its hierarchy is bloody terrified of Asymmetric Warfare what it can do to decapitate their military leadership, industrial facilities and infrastructure.
To me the SF is the ultimate Stealth Deep Strike capability. 🤔
I was going to reverse it, and put it thus.
I’d like to see some Army mechanized Battalions carry out the multitude of operations, in all environments, at short notice, in the Grey Zone, in all terrains, in CT, by air, sea, mountain, arctic, desert, that our Special Forces conduct every day.
Worth their weight in gold and their reputation precedes them. We should rightly invest heavily in these people, pay them well, treat them well, and invest in their enablers.
Which is why cutting their fixed wing and rotary assets pissed me off.
The Army is also expanding it’s Special Operations capabilty for a reason. Special Operations is not SF by the way, and also contributes to grey zone.
Hi Dan, unlike SF, who have direct access to 7 Sqn etc, the Special Operations Brigade do not, they still come under the RAF’s green army support. meaning the support they get is based on other requirements and availability.
Hi mate.
Yes, pretty much as I assumed it so.
So the Chinook cut will impact Defence users badly, including a growth area in S Ops.
I’d read, not a certainty, that these 14 ER we are getting are gucchi enough that the Green Army won’t see much of them.
Let’s put it this way. If a certain US pilots from a certain US Army regiment jump aboard these cabs, they won’t see a lot of difference between their own and the RAF versions. They definitely won’t be operated by 18, 27 or 28 Sqn.
As Ukraine, and Israel & the US, is finding out the enemy can throw a lot more ballistic missiles at you and at a lower cost than you can afford to knock out. We need to spend our money on endless “affordable” long range strike and building in proper resilience for the country. Spending on ABM is because you hope your big mate is going to step in before you run out and we know that mate doesn’t give a @£&? about us anymore.
As Ukraine, and Israel & the US, is finding out the enemy can throw a lot more ballistic missiles at you and at a lower cost than you can afford to knock out. We need to spend our money on endless “affordable” long range strike and building in proper resilience for the country. Spending on ABM is because you hope your big mate is going to step in before you run out and we know that mate doesn’t give a @£&? about us anymore.
Current UK policy is focussed on NATO first – i.e. propping up sponging lazy Europeans – not “distant wars in support of US operations”. An AEW capability is useless without fighters and GCAP is very much the next generation of that. Any ballistic missiles aimed at the UK will be medium or long range (i,e. VERY FAST) ones that something like Patriot won’t cope with. THAAD batteries cost $1Bn each.
Let’s face it our doors are open to almost anything at the moment after all!
Wedgetail, like the Protector, is to be considered. In other words, no news. As usual.
Can kicked. Job done.
No expansion in force numbers anywhere beyond introduction of Drones, balanced by cuts continuing in other areas.
Same as it ever was. Maddening
I suspect it is the cost DM. Boeing has sharp price rises. An E-7 has gone from $550m each to $725m each.
Aren’t there two spare radars lying around somewhere so just need to order the planes, unless those radars have been used up on the two E7s being built for the USAF?
The refurbishment and modification activity has been so fraught with difficulties, I cannot see it being restarted after the two USAF airframes are complete. Considering AESA manufacture lead time, I guess a decision needs to be made fairly soon.
Its also a question of where the two USAF airframes eventually end up. The USAF aint interested in E-7, and they are equipped with the two spare British AESA sets. Its entirely possible that the UK MoD buy them off the Yanks eventually.
The US has committed to 7 E7s despite trumps antics,there is a possibility of a fleet of 26 but that depends on additional funding approval etc.
Interesting; I thought Congress had only funded the first 2.
So does that mean the work is going to continue in the UK, or will it be brought back Stateside ?
No idea mate I just googled it as I read on TWZ they were renewing their interest.
Those are US bought radars, so the previous UK ones are still there. Trump govt might have tried to prefer space based systems to e-7 but seems congress is the one that’s keeping the program alive.
So just more spin from Labour – surprise surprise.
At the end of the day this is an utterly fundamental requirement for the defence of the UK.. without these AEW and C aircraft air defence becomes essentially impossible.
In the end the RAF should have at least 6 of these ( better 8) in 2 squadrons at two separate bases.
Also if the UK wants to essentially use the carriers to protect power in the high north it would be a massive force multiplier if the carrier battlegroup was covered by an E7.. if you consider the carriers AO would be no more than 2-3 hours fight time away and an E7 can manage an 18 hour mission time that’s 12 hours over the carrier battle group per sortie.. a squadron could manage that.. and a CBG with an E7 would be a massive shield..
Finally we have the other key areas of Uk national interest sovereign bases on Cyprus and the Falklands.. it’s very possible in a decade or so that with support is possible Argentina could rebuild to to point AEW is needed.
Can an E7 stay up longer with AAR?
Pilots can be rotated in the rest seats.
Toilet and galley are already a thing from the civilian versions.
Really it is down to engine check intervals….?
I just know the longest recorded active mission was 17.2 hours.. an Australian crew over Afghanistan…. Not sure if you could push it further..
It’s an airliner with only 20ish people, would it be possible to have crew accommodation and a small kitchen on board?
It’s an airliner with only 20ish people on board. Wouldn’t it be possible to have some bunk beds and a kitchen or are the seating arrangements really inefficient? It would only have to be 2 on, 1 off to massively increase the maximum flight time.
They’re converted airliners with only 20ish crew. Is there not room for some off-duty bunks and a small kitchen to allow rotation? Even a 2 on, 1 off system would enable much longer missions.
I think it is a tacit acknowledgement that we know we need more but don’t have the money to buy them.
Yeh, it’s saying we are open to offers.
Boeing now wants $725m for each E-7 Wedgetail. A mix of inflation & USAF gold plating perhaps?
In much of the same vein, I’m keeping the door open to a menage a trois with Beyonce and Rihanna . I expect this to happen long before any more wedgetails appear..
It’s fair to say you have a type then 😉
When the govt reduced the order from 5 to 3 Wedgetails we still had to pay for 5 radars even though 2 would never be used.
More corrupt sub standard purchasing.
Again the RAF get the wrong kit. The Saab option would have been a better choice and had a more multirole fit out on it so dong more than one job whilst on station. Still the UK MOD and RAF only want gold plated kit which means fewer and fewer assets when mass is needed. Lets again look at low tech kit that simply can do what is needed on mass. More mass allows you to be in more places at once and so many fights are won using low tech kit. A big rethink needed and lets keep the man in the loop for do we really want machines deciding who get taken out ?