Boeing has completed the maiden flight of the Royal Air Force’s first E-7 Wedgetail. The airborne early warning aircraft, which is based on the 737-700 jet, took off from Birmingham Airport in England, where it was converted.
The modification work to accommodate synthetic aperture radar, sensors and equipment was carried out by STS Aviation Services.
The first RAF E-7 is still unpainted, one of the next steps in the work after more test flights.
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“Achieving the first flight of Wedgetail is a significant milestone, representing an outstanding effort from the RAF programme team, Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S), Boeing, and STS Aviation Services. We will now build on this success and look forward to continuing the Test & Evaluation phase as part of our preparations for the aircraft to enter service with the RAF,” said Group Captain Richard Osselton, RAF Programme Director for Wedgetail.
The future fleet of three E-7s replaces the decommissioned E-3 Sentry jets, which were sold to Chile. The new Boeing aircraft will be based at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland.
The E-7 has recently won new orders from NATO and the US Air Force. The aircraft currently flies in Turkey, South Korea and Australia.
