First RAF Wedgetail breaks cover
Author: Jon Lake
A Boeing E-7A Wedgetail AEW.Mk 1 destined for the Royal Air Force has ‘broken cover’ at the Birmingham Airport home of STS STS Aviation Services, the company responsible for converting three Boeing 737NG airframes to E-7 Airborne Early Warning (AEW) platforms.
The programme has been beset by delays and difficulties, and there has been something of a news blackout, but the aircraft is understood to be close to making its first flight, with some Boeing sources suggesting that it had at one time been expected to fly before the Farnborough Airshow.
The Wedgetail was procured to replace the six Boeing E-3D Sentry AEW.Mk 1s of No.8 Squadron, which retired in July 2021. The new type was originally due to enter service in 2023, and initial plans were for the UK to acquire five Wedgetails, until the 2022 Defence Command Paper announced that just three aircraft would be acquired. There have been recent reports that the RAF has prepared, or is preparing a business case for a full fleet of seven Wedgetails.
The first 737-700NG arrived at Birmingham Airport on 8 January 2021, with further aircraft following on 14 September and 15 July 2022. The first was fitted with its Northrop Grumman Multi-Role Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) radar on 4 November 2022.
