Nearly a week after Australia announced it was deploying the E-7 Wedgetail to the UAE to help monitor airspace over the Gulf region, there is an indication that the US could also derive operational advantage from the airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) platform.
Earlier this month, Australian officials announced that the E-7 Wedgetail from the Royal Australian Air Force’s (RAAF) No. 2 Squadron would provide a “long-range reconnaissance capability which will help secure the airspace above the Gulf” for an initial four-week period. It has since been speculated that the aircraft is based at Al Minad Air Base.
Notably, the decision to deploy the aircraft in the Middle East came as several Gulf states that host US military facilities and troops came under fire by Iran, which was retaliating to the joint strikes launched by the United States and Israel.
While the E-7 Wedgetail is primarily tasked with gathering intelligence to support the Gulf states, the Australian Defence Minister, Richard Marles, announced on March 17 that the data collected by the surveillance aircraft could be accessed and used by the US military to better direct strikes against Iran.
Marles was speaking at a press conference when he was asked whether the US had access to the intelligence the Australian Wedgetail collects in the region.
Responding to the question, the Defence Minister said that all information collected by the aircraft is sent to the Combined Air Operations Centre in Qatar, a joint military station where the US conducts its air operations in the region.
“It is information which flows through the Combined Air Operations Centre based in Qatar, which America is a part of,” he said. “That’s because you are talking about a coordinated air defence of the countries of the Gulf. And so that is the way in which this capability is operating, but it is there in a defensive capacity,” he added.
“It wouldn’t make sense to be operating this capability without providing that information in that way in terms of maintaining the defence of those countries and the security of the Australians who are living there,” Richard Marles was quoted as saying in the report. “But this is fundamentally a defensive mission and fundamentally a defensive capability.”
The E-7 could prove to be useful in spotting Iranian drones, cruise missiles, and loitering munitions headed toward the Persian Gulf, Middle-East states, and shipping vessels. The E-7 could enhance situational awareness in a conflict where Iran has frustrated the US and its allies with cheap drones.
The statement about “defensive capability,” however, remains moot. Some analysts have stated that if the data collected by the aircraft is being used by the US to conduct aggressive actions, it is far from being purely defensive.
“Australia’s Wedgetail aircraft is designed to pick up missile and drone launch sites to target counterstrikes and is feeding that into this US command,” Greens senator David Shoebridge told ABC News. “The targeting information is now being supplied by Australia to the US in their illegal war. This is not defensive; it’s critical to US attacks across Iran.”
On its part, the US has deployed its own ageing E-3 Sentry aircraft to the theatre, as it does not yet have an E-7 Wedgetail. “E-3 Sentry is an airborne warning and control system, or AWACS, aircraft with an integrated command and control battle management, or C2BM, surveillance, target detection, and tracking platform. The aircraft provides an accurate, real-time picture of the battlespace to the Joint Air Operations Centre,” the US Air Force (USAF) states on its official website.
However, the E-3 Sentry was meant to be replaced by the E-7, a more modern, advanced platform.
Interestingly, while the Pentagon initially showed interest in acquiring this aircraft, it proposed terminating the E-7 program last year, citing rising costs and concerns about survivability against peer adversaries.
Later that year, Congress moved to save the aircraft, and the fiscal 2026 NDAA authorised an additional $647 million for continued development and procurement of the E-7, while prohibiting the Air Force from terminating its contract with Boeing or shutting down associated production lines.
Earlier this month, the US Air Force (USAF) awarded two separate, sole-source contracts to manufacturer Boeing to continue development of the aircraft components.
“In accordance with the Fiscal Year 2026 Consolidated Appropriations Act, the Department of the Air Force (DAF) has approved an updated acquisition strategy for the E-7A Wedgetail program. This strategy executes Congressional direction to continue development and transition to an Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) phase,” a USAF spokesperson reportedly said. Nonetheless, the future of the jet may still be uncertain because neither the contracts nor the USAF’s announcement commits to production
The E-7 Wedgetail
Based on the Boeing 737 Next Generation airframe, the Boeing E-7 Wedgetail is a twin-engine airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft primarily used for command, surveillance, and battle management.
Unlike older platforms like the E-3 Sentry, it has a unique fixed dorsal fin that holds advanced radar sensors.
The E-7 was originally developed for the Royal Australian Air Force as part of Project Wedgetail. It has the most advanced electronics for detecting and coordinating threats in real time. The plane is adept at managing air battles and providing early warning, and typically acts as a flying command centre, providing long-range reconnaissance, tracking incoming attacks, and directing defensive responses.
Its wing area spans 980 square feet and uses a B737D airfoil for efficient flight. Additionally, the aircraft has an empty weight of about 46,606 kilograms and a maximum takeoff weight of 77,600 kilograms. It has a payload capacity of 19,830 kilograms.
The E-7 has a speed of about 530 miles/hour (853 kilometres/hour), powered by two CFM International CFM56-7B27A turbofan engines, each producing 121 kilonewtons of thrust. It boasts a service ceiling of about 41,000 feet and a range of about 4,000 miles (6,500 kilometres).
At the core of the aircraft is the Northrop Grumman Multi-role Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) radar, a fixed, active, electronically scanned array that provides 360-degree coverage and excels at detecting challenging threats compared to older systems like the E-3 Sentry. Notably, the aircraft’s radar uses two broadside arrays (120 degrees each) and an end-fire array (60 degrees front and aft), with processing equipment below.
Crewed by two pilots and six to ten mission specialists, the cabin features up to 12 operator consoles (typically eight to ten).
With a maximum range of more than 600 kilometres in look-up mode and more than 850 kilometres for electronic intelligence (ELINT) at 30,000 feet, it permits simultaneous air and sea searches, fighter control, and area surveillance. The aircraft can simultaneously track a whopping 3,000 targets at ranges exceeding 370 kilometres in all conditions.
The Wedgetail combines long-range surveillance radar, secondary radar, and tactical/strategic voice and data communications systems to provide an airborne early warning and control platform.
The aircraft helps coordinate air operations, guide fighters, and integrate data from multiple sources, including satellites, other aircraft, and ground-based sensors, serving as airborne command centres. This role is vital on complex, dynamic battlefields, where rapid decision-making is key.
The AEW&CS is particularly critical in contested regions, such as Iran, where air superiority and early warning generally prove decisive. Speaking at the House Appropriations subcommittee on defence, May 6, 2025, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin said: “We have to sense, make sense, and act. And right now, the E-7 is the platform that delivers what the E-3 can with greater capability. But I think we just need to ensure that we’re adequately covering all parts of that as we do that migration, before we just go from one domain to another, specifically.”
For the US, the E-7 is intended as a replacement for the ageing E-3 Sentry (AWACS) fleet, which is facing retirement due to high maintenance costs and obsolescence.
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