The destruction of a United States Air Force (USAF) E‑3G Sentry Airborne Early Warning And Control System (AWACS) in an Iranian attack on the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia has exacerbated America’s airborne early warning system woes.
The March 27 attack has reduced the number of these systems to 14 from the original 34 systems acquired by the USAF. Deliveries of these aircraft took place from March 1977 to June 1984, according to the aircraft manufacturer Boeing. This means that the youngest of these airframes is almost 42 years old. The USAF had initially wanted to replace these aircraft with Boeing’s E-7A Wedgetail, but that project now seems to be stuck in limbo.The USAF E-3A program began with a $1.2 billion contract signed in 2023 for the rapid prototype deployment. In 2024, this was followed by a $2.56 billion contract for two prototypes, of the aircraft that is based on the civilian Boeing 737-700 NG airframe. The USAF had envisioned procuring 26 of these aircraft by 2032. The first of these airframes was scheduled to be received by the service in 2027 as per the initial plans, as reported by the aviationist.
In 2025, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth criticised the program as being expensive. He favoured a stopgap approach using the E-2D Hawkeye, an aircraft operated by the US Navy as well, while advocating for a long-term solution based on space-based assets. The US Congress responded by adding provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act for the current financial year that protected the E-7A procurement project.
The aim here was to avoid capability gap as the retirement of the E-3 nears, The War Zone reported.Although space-based assets would provide persistent surveillance, but the technology hasn’t yet matured to a level where it can replace in-service platforms, according to former USAF chief General David Allvin, as per the aviationist. The E-7 Wedgetail is currently in service with Australia, South Korea and Turkey, while the UK is awaiting delivery of its first aircraft.
