United States has ultimately decided to reverse its own decision and restore the E-7 Wedgetail AWACS aircraft program, as there are essentially no alternatives. It has been agreed to include it in the interim agreement for government funding during the shutdown until the end of January 2026, until a full budget is adopted.
According to a publicly available document, $200 million will be allocated for this purpose. On one hand, this doesn't sound like much and is even several times less than the price of a single aircraft, but on the other hand, this is funding for less than two months, so the amounts make sense.
Read more: India's Tejas Mk1A Fighter Jets Secure U.S. Engine Supply Despite Strained Relations
It should be noted that this is still only an agreement that must be approved by Congress to take effect. And doubts persist until the very end due to criticism of the project from the current Pentagon leadership, particularly regarding survivability and the aircraft's extremely high cost, which led to the cancellation several months ago.
However, the E-2D Hawkeye was mentioned as an alternative to the E-7, which, although it has decent characteristics, is still a smaller asset that doesn't provide the same capabilities. The latter particularly concerns airborne endurance time, which is 4 hours versus 10 or more for the Wedgetail.
So its not surprising that despite the opinion of Pentagon leadership, the new AWACS aircraft program meant to replace the E-3 was ultimately decided to be restored. It turns out that the price increase to over $800 million per aircraft is not such a major problem for US legislators.
At the same time, the effect of the previous cancellation is already being felt, as together with other international problems, this has forced partner countries to seek alternatives. And Swedish Saab GlobalEye has become that alternative.
France has already made this choice, and Germany is considering expanding its own arsenal. However, the biggest blow now is to NATO, where, despite the previously made choice, they have now begun to reconsider it due to concerns about US reliability.
Nevertheless, Australia, Turkey, and the United Kingdom continue to participate in the E-7 program. Moreover, the British will manufacture two aircraft for the Americans, so returning to work on the aircraft will preserve unification with some partners.
Read more: russia Claims Its Problem-Plagued An-2 Replacement Will Take Off Within Two Months
