Though the UK will get three planes instead of five, the procurement report estimates that the E-7 program will cost $2.5 billion, only marginally less costly than the $2.7 billion agreed in the original order.
In an interview with Breaking Defense, chairman of the House Armed Services Tactical Air and Land Forces subcommittee Rep. Rob Wittman explains the committee’s thinking behind keeping AETP going, as well as the reason for slashing funds from NGAD.
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Through its open systems architecture and agile software development, the E-7 provides rapid, affordable capability growth to remain a critical asset as threats evolve.
The Air Force previously provided notice it would award the contract to Boeing in a sole-source acquisition. The first aircraft is scheduled to arrive in fiscal 2027.
The AFSC capability program aims to define “a new generation of surveillance and control capabilities” underpinned by a systems of systems architecture approach, intended to integrate “multiple capabilities and platforms” for future multidomain operations, according to the RfI.
“While the Plan continues to serve a useful purpose in reporting to Parliament on planned expenditure, the volatile external environment means this year’s Plan is already out of date,” said the NAO.
Answering the Pentagon’s call to bolster defense industrial base.
A tranche of F-35s will be delayed, as will the E-7 Wedgetail, while the Atlas transport has overcome a "regrettable collection of discoveries."
“That new start reprogramming would give us the flexibility to potentially speed it up somewhat,” said Steven Wert, who leads the Air Force's Program Executive Office Digital. “It's not going to be a dramatic speed up, but we're doing everything we can.”
"Getting the airplanes is about a two-year process, and then modifying them is another two year process," Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said Tuesday. "There are things that we could do, however, to maybe get access to aircraft earlier one way or another.”
The decision had seemed an inevitability for months, but the timing of the announcement was a surprise.
In a new solicitation, the Air Force states it could put a company under contract in fiscal 2023 to make the first two prototype E-3 replacement airplanes.
“I’m very confident that the Air Force is choosing the E-7 to replace its E-3 fleet,” Mike Manazir, Boeing’s vice president for defense business development, said during a news conference ahead of the Dubai Airshow.
Acquiring the Wedgetail "gives us a path" while the service awaits a space-based capability, Air Force Chief of Staff CQ Brown said, as "an option to be able to get the capability much faster than if we were to start a new start from scratch."