How Congress is trying to fund the E-7 Wedgetail program
The Wedgetail would replace the aging E3 Sentry for airborne early warning and control.
The fight over the FY27 defense budget is on. Here’s 13 key issues for Congress to resolve.
From the Iran supplemental to the debate over a third reconciliation bill, Congress will have its hands full with a long list of defense funding needs when it returns from recess in September.
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Physics AI is different and changes the way defense systems are designed
Models that replicate real-world physics streamline design, testing and iteration processes.
House appropriators release $1 trillion defense bill for FY27
The bill also restores funding for the E-7 Wedgetail after Defense Department leaders signaled their intent to continue the program.
Air Force seeks to scrap its E-11 BACN fleet
An Air Force spokesperson told Breaking Defense following the hearing that there are seven E-11s in the current fleet, and confirmed that the plan is to replace them with the emerging DAF (Department of the Air Force) Battle Network.
Air Force strategy to protect aircraft was designed for China. Will it work for Iran?
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said the US had "maxed out" its defensive posture, but Iran managed to strike US aircraft in Saudi Arabia anyway.
UK defense official: Boeing has been ‘troubled partner’ in much delayed E-7 program
Despite the UK once committing to field Wedgetail in the “early” 2020s, it was revealed last year that a new timeframe of 2026 had been approved.
The defense intelligence community’s AI and cyber view forward
From AI adoption and agentic systems to Zero Trust and cyber resilience, Breaking Defense’s latest eBook brings together key reporting from DoDIIS 2026 on the technologies and strategies shaping the future of defense intelligence.
With funding flush, Space Force hopes to speed satellites to track aircraft, missiles
Gen. Chance Saltzman, Space Force chief, said the work already done to design a satellite system for tracking ground targets should also help speed AMTI capabilities to orbit.
The state of play in military space
The military space sector is evolving fast. Get the latest from Space Force and industry officials on what’s next for acquisition, policy and training in a new Breaking Defense eBook.
AMTI ASAP: Space Force readying multi-source acquisition for satellites to track aircraft
"So the focus is going to be on delivering AMTI [airborne moving target indication] capability very quickly," Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said.
Congress votes to reopen the government, with extra money for Wedgetail, Navy shipbuilding
The government shut down Oct. 1 after Congress failed to pass an FY26 budget.
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Three exercises that pushed counter–UAS from prototype to proven
Architecture that linked sensors, C2, RF effects, and lasers into a distributed c-UAS kill chain.
Republicans tee up short-term CR extending Pentagon funding until November
The continuing resolution does not include $3.9 billion requested by the White House for the Columbia-class submarine, but gives funding flexibility to other key programs.
EXCLUSIVE: SDA eyeing airborne target tracking satellites demonstration, says Tournear
"I would say that we are at the point now where the technology has matured and it's commoditized, so that radar based AMTI from space is feasible," outgoing SDA Director Derek Tournear told Breaking Defense in an exclusive interview.
Can Congress pass a FY26 defense budget this year? Here are 12 key issues for lawmakers.
As Congress returns from August recess, Breaking Defense examined how each defense committee is looking at a dozen major programs, from Golden Dome to F/A-XX to the cancellation of the E-7 Wedgetail.
Space Force launching sats to ‘enable’ GMTI ahead of mission-dedicated birds in 2028
Lt. Gen. DeAnna Burt, the Space Force’s deputy chief of space operations for operations, cyber and nuclear, also said the service expects to complete an analysis of alternatives by this fall for a separate but related effort to track airborne targets from the heavens.