RAF E-7 Wedgetail programme

The Boeing E-7 Wedgetail is an airborne early warning and command and control aircraft providing “situational awareness of the battlespace”. It has been described by the Ministry of Defence as “a force enabler for the UK Armed Forces, our allies and NATO”.

However, the E-7 Wedgetail is not yet in service with the RAF. The aircraft are currently being modified and are expected to enter service towards the end of 2025, two years later than originally planned. Following decisions in the Integrated Review’ s defence command paper in 2021, the Wedgetail fleet will also be reduced to three, rather than the five originally ordered in 2019.

The MOD has, however, had to continue with the separate purchase of five Northrop Grumman manufactured multi-role electronically scanned array radar (totalling approximately £300 million), and intends to use the two spare radars to provide replacement parts in the future.

A gap in capability and a smaller fleet

The UK has been without a dedicated airborne early warning capability since 2021 when the RAF’s E-3D Sentry AEW aircraft left service. The Wedgetail E-7 is its intended replacement.

The Defence Select Committee has repeatedly criticised the capability shortfall that the delay in the E-7 has created and the reduction in fleet size. In a July 2023 report (PDF), the committee described the latter decision as “an absolute folly” in operational and financial terms, because of the risk to the fleet from the reduced number, and because there have been limited savings from the reduction. In another report, published in September 2023 (PDF), the committee said that of all the equipment cuts made in the 2021 defence command paper, the decision to reduce Wedgetail from five to three aircraft “stands out as the most perverse, with the fleet cut by 40% for an acquisition saving of just 12%”. The committee went on to say that the capability gap in airborne early warning and control coverage “presents a serious threat to the UK’s warfighting ability”.

Recommendations in the SDR

The June 2025 Strategic Defence Review recommended that

The review recommends that further E-7 Wedgetail airborne early warning aircraft should be procured “when funding allows” and taking into consideration infrastructure and operating costs. The review suggested that such costs could potentially be offset by a cost-sharing arrangement with NATO allies.

The government has accepted all 62 of the recommendations of the strategic defence review and work is ongoing on a defence investment plan which may provide some clarity on future plans. That work is expected to conclude in the autumn.

Concerns have been raised, however, that recent US proposals to cut funding for its procurement of the E-7 for the US Air Force will raise costs across the entirety of the programme, and for the UK by default. The MOD’s 2022 Defence Equipment Plan had acknowledged that acquisition by the US had the “potential to keep costs down on the Programme”.