NATO allies have approved procurement of six Boeing E-7A Wedgetail AEW&C aircraft to replace older E-3A (pictured) aircraft (NATO)
DUBAI — Boeing’s E-7A Wedgetail will replace NATO E-3A Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft, after alliance members approved procurement of six of the newer platforms, the first of which is set to “be ready for operational duty by 2031.”
Though NATO announced the decision today, it said that a “consortium of allies” had moved to approve E-7A selection earlier this month. A statement on the acquisition, which falls under the alliance’s initial Allied Future Surveillance and Control (iAFSC) program, calls the deal “one of NATO’s biggest-ever capability purchases,” although no contract value was disclosed.
The purchase of only six aircraft is notable, as the alliance currently operates a fleet of 14 E-3A units, set to retire in 2035. However, NATO seems to have left itself some wiggle room to potentially add more jets in the future, with an alliance official telling Breaking Defense that “Six has been recognized as the minimum number of aircraft that the strategic commands state is required to deliver the minimum operational capability for SACEUR’s day-zero airborne air battle management capability.”
The NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) first delivered an iAFSC capability Request for Information (RFI) solicitation to industry in 2022, with competitors asked to outline aircraft pricing and availability of individual solutions.
When the RfI phase reached an end, “it was assessed that Boeing E-7A AEW&C (Wedgetail) is the only known military-off-the-shelf/non-developmental system currently capable of fulfilling the strategic commands’ essential operational requirements and key performance parameters and available for delivery within the timeframe required,” explained the NATO official.
Speaking of the E-7A approval, Jens Stoltenberg said investment in the plane “shows the strength of transatlantic defence cooperation as we continue to adapt to a more unstable world.”
Other Competitors Miss Out
Aside from Boeing, US primes L3 Harris, Northrop Grumman and Sweden’s Saab were all part of that process. L3 Harris had pitched a Bombardier Global 6500 business jet “cross decked” with a Conformal Airborne Early Warning (CAEW) mission system previously fitted on Gulfstream G550 platforms. Northrop proposed the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, and Saab offered its GlobalEye platform.
Saab told Breaking Defense today that it “noted the [E-7A] decision from NSPA and remains convinced that GlobalEye is the best solution for NATO’s requirements in AEW&C in terms of capability as well as interoperability and availability.”
The manufacturer added that “further clarification” around the alliance decision would be welcome. It argues that at a technological level, “GlobalEye is meeting or exceeding all capabilities set forth in the RFI.”
The NATO win adds to a growing list of victories for the E-7. Based on Boeing’s 737 commercial airliner, the E-7 is currently operated by Australia, South Korea and Turkey, with the UK set to acquire a fleet of three units.
Most importantly for the Boeing plane, in March 2023 the company was also awarded an undefinitized contract by the US Air Force, worth up to a maximum value of $1.2 billion, to launch Wedgetail development. A prior justification and approval (J&A) notice from the service highlighted a plan to acquire 22 aircraft but that has subsequently grown by an additional four units.
Wedgetail has been designed to support situational awareness and command and control duties, and in NATO’s case it will operate out of a main base at Geilenkirchen, Germany and potentially other forward locations across Europe.
Beyond iAFSC, the alliance is committed to a more ambitious AFSC system of systems effort that will be made up of different types of aircraft and an in-development systems of systems architecture, according to the NATO official. However, there are no plans to do a split iAFSC buy.
As that line of effort continues to move forward, the official stressed that the new Wedgetails will “deliver an initial element of AFSC to mitigate the risk of a surveillance and control capability gap” as the E-3 heads for retirement.
The E-3 has been routinely used by NATO for surveillance missions across the eastern flank, since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Integrating commercial off-the-shelf computing on military platforms and how to make it work
The systems may be off-the-shelf, but the packaging for integration on vehicles and ships provides cradle-to-grave resiliency.
Pentagon awards Lockheed $11.8 billion undefinitized F-35 production contract
The Pentagon aims to finalize the contract for production lot 18 by the spring, though a similar award for lot 19 is not planned to follow until the fiscal 2025 budget is approved, according to the F-35 Joint Program Office.
