ORLANDO, FL -- Boeing is confident that if its E-7A Wedgetail is selected as the follow-on to the Air Force's Airborne Warning and Control System, the company would be able to deliver at least two prototype aircraft to the service within the five-year timeline laid out in a recent sources-sought notice.
But that exact timing, Steve Shepro, vice president of business development for Boeing’s defense, space and security business, told reporters at the Air Force Association’s Warfare Symposium here, would be contingent on the configuration the service would select.
“We have options,” he said during a media briefing Friday. “The aircraft is in production, so we could make an under-five-year timeline, I would say well under [the] five-year timeline, in some cases. It just depends on what path the Air Force would like to take. Would it be a current configuration? Would it be a current configuration with additions, or would it be a modification?”
Still, he noted with the United Kingdom’s configuration currently in production, “it gives us a lot of options.” Australia has also purchased the aircraft, which is based on Boeing’s 737, and an E-7A from the Royal Australian Air Force recently participated in the first Red Flag exercise of 2022 at Nellis Air Force Base, NV.
Asked about the differences in configurations, Shepro said while each worked off “the same basic system,” upgrades through radar capability updates, integration changes, future open mission system architecture capability and more are among the technological differences between the various models.
When potential customer nations approach Boeing and describe the mission set they are looking to accomplish, company executives determine upgrades they can make to accommodate those needs, Shepro confirmed. Pointing to the radar as an example, which he said “mainly” functions as an air moving target indicator, he noted it also has maritime and electronic support measure modes.
“Obviously for the nations that want that, that’s an important capability,” he said.
Boeing has received a sole-source time and materials contract to study and analyze its E-7A Wedgetail, “ascertain the current E7A baseline configuration and determine what additional work the government might need to accomplish meeting USAF configuration standards and mandates.” Shepro said officials are answering that now and the work involves the topics he’s highlighted, in addition to risk analysis.
Shepro’s comments came in the weeks after the Air Force published a sources-sought notice that showed the service looking to make a contract award to replace the aging E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft in fiscal year 2023. The deal would involve the delivery of at least two manned, production-representative prototype aircraft within five years of that award, a provision the notice stipulates would include ground support and training systems.
Looking ahead to an AWACS follow-on, acting Air Force acquisition executive Darlene Costello told reporters during a roundtable Friday that any respondents to the RFI who have “a hot line that they want to propose on there, that’ll be definitely considered.”
“Based on the responses, we’ll determine the way forward for the program,” she added.
The U.S. E-3 Sentry fleet, derived from Boeing’s 707 and dating back to the 1970s and ‘80s, consists of 31 aircraft that perform airborne moving target indicator missions. The Air Force hopes to eventually perform AMTI from space, service officials previously indicated, though the military needs a placeholder until that next domain is reached.
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall underscored the need for an AWACS replacement during his opening speech kicking off the conference, noting the “aging and vulnerable legacy systems” the service uses for air-to-ground moving target indication.
Pointing to those comments, Shepro said Boeing executives see the E-7 as one that “aligns well” with Kendall’s seven operational imperatives, part of an effort to identify the Air Force’s future priority areas -- particularly, he noted, when it comes to AMTI at-range and enabling the Advanced Battle Management System.
“What’s great about the E-7 is that it’s ready; it’s in production,” he said.