Big News:
To no one’s surprise, the U.S. Air Force has decided that the aircraft that will replace it’s aging Boeing E-3 Sentry will be the E-7 Wedgetail, also produced by Boeing.
The Air Force announced Tuesday it will replace part of the E-3 Sentry, or Airborne Warning and Control System, fleet with Boeing E-7 Wedgetails.
In a release, the service said the decision to go with the Wedgetail was based on market research and that it is “the only platform” that could meet all of the Defense Department’s requirements for tactical battle management, command and control, and target tracking in time to replace the aging E-3, which dates back to the 1970s.
The E-7A Wedgetail is based on a Boeing 737-700 series aircraft, with the addition of an advanced Northrop Grumman Multi-Role Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) radar, and 10 state-of-the-art mission crew consoles which can track airborne and maritime targets simultaneously.
Technologically equipped for the modern battlespace, the E-7A Wedgetail combines long-range surveillance radar, secondary radar and tactical/strategic voice and data communications systems.
It is a highly advanced aircraft, providing an airborne early warning and control platform that can gather information from a wide variety of sources, analyse it, and distribute it to other assets.
During a standard mission, the E-7A Wedgetail can cover more than four million square kilometres, an area the size of Western Australia or the Northern Territory; and is capable of unlimited long-range deployment with in-flight refuelling - making it highly effective in the endurance stakes.
To no one’s surprise, the U.S. Air Force has decided that the aircraft that will replace it’s aging Boeing E-3 Sentry will be the E-7 Wedgetail, also produced by Boeing.
The Air Force announced Tuesday it will replace part of the E-3 Sentry, or Airborne Warning and Control System, fleet with Boeing E-7 Wedgetails.
In a release, the service said the decision to go with the Wedgetail was based on market research and that it is “the only platform” that could meet all of the Defense Department’s requirements for tactical battle management, command and control, and target tracking in time to replace the aging E-3, which dates back to the 1970s.
The E-7A Wedgetail is based on a Boeing 737-700 series aircraft, with the addition of an advanced Northrop Grumman Multi-Role Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) radar, and 10 state-of-the-art mission crew consoles which can track airborne and maritime targets simultaneously.
Technologically equipped for the modern battlespace, the E-7A Wedgetail combines long-range surveillance radar, secondary radar and tactical/strategic voice and data communications systems.
It is a highly advanced aircraft, providing an airborne early warning and control platform that can gather information from a wide variety of sources, analyse it, and distribute it to other assets.
During a standard mission, the E-7A Wedgetail can cover more than four million square kilometres, an area the size of Western Australia or the Northern Territory; and is capable of unlimited long-range deployment with in-flight refuelling - making it highly effective in the endurance stakes.
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