The United States Air Force (USAF) has announced its plans to bolster its fleet of Boeing E-7A “Wedgetails” to seven airframes. Under a new contract, the USAF will buy another five to complement its existing two.

Announced by U.S. Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink during a House subcommittee on Thursday (April 30), these aircraft will help modernize USAF early warning capabilities.

In case you are unaware, the E-7A is effectively a flying command center and radar station. It comes with a high-powered radar and can act as a kind of battle manager to coordinate fighters, ships, and missiles.

It also acts as a data hub to link everything together in real time. These new aircraft are set to replace the USAF’s fleet of Boeing E-3 “Sentry” AWACS (the ones with the big spinning dome above their fuselage).

While highly capable in their day, such aircraft are now aging and becoming increasingly vulnerable on the modern battlefield. Such aircraft were first introduced in the 1970s, and are becomming increasingly more expensive to maintain over time.

Rise of the “Top Hat”

They also struggle in the modern electronic warfare (EW) environments. Meanwhile, near-peer nations like China and Russia now have long-range missiles, advanced radar-jamming, and other “anti-access” systems designed to kill or push back support aircraft.

To stay ahead of the curve, the USAF needs an aircraft that can not only see further, coordinate faster, but also survive in an increasingly EW-hostile battlespace. And that’s where the E-7A “Wedgetail” fits the bill.

The first major upgrade over the E-3 is the Wedgetail’s advanced Northrop Grumman Multi-role Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) Radar. Instead of a spinning disc, this is more of a fixed “top hat” radar system that scans electronically, not mechanically like the spinning radar on the E-3.

This is faster and more reliable, and can, in theory, track more targets at once. That translates to better detection of low-flying aircraft and cruise missiles and faster reaction times.

Arguably, the biggest game-changer over the E-3 is the E-7A’s ability to act as a kind of network brain, not just a massive flying radar. This means it can support something called Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2), which, in simple terms, enables it to link air, land, sea, space, and cyber in one place.

This allows it to share targeting data instantly and let different forces act as one system. That is a big step up from the simple radar detection-call-response method currently employed by the E-3.

Wedgetail: faster, better, more survivable

Instead, the E-7A can detect, share information instantly, and have multiple systems react simultaneously. That’s a massive force multiplier when time is of the essence.

The E-7A is also hardened to better operate and survive in EW-contested environments, and has much-improved secure communications abilities. While not stealth capable, it is a very tough target to disrupt, even kill.

The aircraft also benefits from being easier to upgrade over time, thanks to its inherent modular design. This means hardware and software upgrades can be made over time to upgrade its capabilities and futureproof the aircraft.

Given the aircraft’s clear capabilities, you might be wondering why the USAF only appears to require seven airframes. While the number sounds small, each one can cover massive areas and coordinate large numbers of assets on its own.

That means you only really need one, perhaps two, per operation. This makes them simpler to manage from a logistics point of view, but also makes them easier to deploy, defend, and extract if needed.

The E-7A is also in operation by other US allies like Australia, the United Kingdom, and South Korea. From a coalition point of view, that means the E-7A is the perfect choice for joint operations and standardised data sharing.