After more than three months, no further flights have taken place to test the UK Royal Air Force’s (RAF) future airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft, the E-7 Wedgetail.
There are currently three aircraft in the pipeline, down from an original order of five. The first aircraft has already conducted three test flights according to the Minister for Defence Procurement and Industry, Maria Eagle, in a parliamentary written response published at the end of January.
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However, the lack of progress in testing the second and third aircraft since then may risk delaying the Wedgetail programme, which was originally scheduled for delivery in “late 2025,” according to Eagle in a response in early February 2025.
Notably, in a recent response from today (14 May), Eagle stipulated that a “comprehensive” ground and flight test phase will continue throughout 2025. The number of tests on each aircraft depends upon the success of each flight, rendering delivery expectations more obscure.
Modifications to push flight tests
Each of the airframes were previously owned by Boeing, the original equipment manufacturer, and have a flight history, having been recorded on the United States Civil Aviation Registry.
Boeing designed Wedgetail using its 737 Next Generation commercial design. Indeed, the first two airframes were initially operated by commercial airlines based in China and Hong Kong before the US defence prime acquired them via a broker, which naturally warrants a comprehensive transformation.
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By GlobalDataCurrently, the second and third Wedgetail aircraft are undergoing a modification process at STS Aviation at Birmingham airport.
“The build is progressing well with lessons learned from aircraft one having been adopted,” Eagle revealed to a parliamentary colleague on 7 May.
Specifically, the modification of the second and third E-7 aircraft involve fitting the Multi-role Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) radar. The second aircraft is being fitted with the system right now while the third MESA is also on site, scheduled to be fitted to the final aircraft in June 2025.
By this time, however, exactly halfway through the year, the Ministry of Defence may risk stalling the programme beyond the targetted in-service date of late 2025. It took more than four months for the first aircraft alone to conduct three flight tests, the first of these took place in September 2024.
Should the present pace of modification and evaluation continue, the second and third airframes would likely take the RAF’s full operational capability of Wedgetail beyond this year, thus leaving the programme at risk of delay.
Strategic Defence Review
In the short term, the British government is expected to publish the Strategic Defence Review (SDR) in the coming weeks, before June.
The long-awaited document will set out Britain’s defence and security objectives for the next decade at a time of global animosity. The UK is already embroiled in a gray-zone confrontation with adversaries. In 2023, RAF Typhoons had intercepted two Russian maritime patrol aircraft north of Scotland.
Many expect the SDR will finally determine key programme dates, which may delve into the specific timeline for delivering Wedgetail.
At present, the RAF are not operating any AEW&C aircraft as the government is under pressure to deliver Wedgetail after the service pulled its predecessor, the E-3D Sentry, from service in 2021 after 30-years of operational service.
A facility has already opened at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland, where the E-7 aircraft will be based upon delivery. There, the trio will share the same engineering line facility with the service’s P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft.
