U.S. Cancels Vital E-7 ‘Flying Radar’ Program Needed to Track Chinese Stealth Planes

U.S. Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth has confirmed that plans for the procurement of E-7 Wedgetail early warning and control (AEW&C) systems for the U.S. Air Force has been cancelled, bringing the future of the service’s support capabilities for long range engagements into serious question. “I would file this entire discussion under difficult choices that we have to make. But you know, the E-7, in particular, is sort of late, more expensive and ‘gold plated,’” he stated when testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee.“so filling the gap, and then shifting to space-based ISR [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] is a portion of how we think we can do it best, considering all the challenges,” he added. It was subsequently confirmed that the much smaller E-2 Hawkeye, which currently serves in the U.S. Navy, was under consideration to serve as a stopgap measure until space based systems could fully perform the role previously assigned to AEW&Cs. Hegseth had just hours beforehand stated that the E-7was is an “example” of a platform that is “not survivable in the modern battlefield,” stressing that space-based assets would be able to fulfil the same role more effectively.

Procurement of the E-7 has been considered particularly vital due to both the to growing obsolesce of the E-3 Sentry AEW&C system which the Air Force currently relies on, and to the considerable wear on the service’s E-3s which have resulted in very low availability rates and high operational costs. The cutting edge capabilities of China’s own new AEW&Cs, namely the KJ-500 and KJ-3000, have further strengthened the consensus on the need for a more modern AEW&C capability. Commenting on the decision to procure the E-7 in late 2022, leading expert on Chinese next generation fighter programs, and author of the book China’s Stealth Fighter: The J-20 ‘Mighty Dragon’ and the Growing Challenge to Western Air Dominance, Abraham Abrams, observed:

“The KJ-500’s induction is thought to have influenced the USAF’s decision on how early to retire its very large but increasingly obsolete E-3 Sentry fleet and replace them with the modern E-7 Wedgetail – a technological equivalent to the new Chinese aircraft. The decision was finalised in 2023, after officials including [PACAF Commander] General [Kenneth] Wilsbach repeatedly stressed both the extreme limitations of the E-3 and the contrasting high sophistication of the latest Chinese AEW&Cs.”

Abrams further noted that American fighter units rely significantly more heavily on AEW&C support than their Chinese counterparts, due to Chinese fighters on average carrying much larger and more powerful radars. The F-35, for example, carries a radar approximately one third smaller than that of the F-15 and J-20, and approximately half the size of that of the J-16.

The decision to procure the E-7 was further influenced by the fast growing capabilities of Chinese fifth generation fighters, namely the J-20, which senior officers in the Air Force have specifically stated the E-3 is inadequate to track and support American operations against. General Wilsbach stated in March 2022 regarding the first encounter between F-35s and J-20s that E-3 Sentry AEW&Cs in the region were suffering obsolescence issues, implying that as a result that during the encounter: “our early warning aircraft could not see the J-20…. Those sensors that we rely on the E-3 aren’t really capable in the twenty-first-century, especially against a [stealth] platform like the J-20 or something similar to that. It just can’t see those platforms far enough out to be able to provide an advantage to the shooters… that’s why I would like to have the E-7.” The fact that the cancellation of plans to procure the E-7 occurs as China is rapidly expanding its J-20 fleet with increasingly sophisticated variants, and is making considerable progress towards fielding the world’s first sixth generation fighter, is expected to make the decision significantly more controversial.