AEW&C Aircraft
Boeing E-7 Wedgetail
The Boeing E-7 Wedgetail is an airborne early warning and control aircraft based on the Boeing 737, fitted with Northrop Grumman’s MESA radar in a fixed dorsal fin. It serves with Australia, Türkiye, South Korea and the United Kingdom, and was chosen by the US Air Force to replace the E-3.
United States|Boeing & Northrop GrummanOverview
Developed for Australia’s Project Wedgetail, contracted in 2000, the 737 AEW&C first flew in 2004 and reached initial operational capability in November 2012 after long delays. Its MESA radar is a fixed electronically scanned array with 360-degree coverage and a commonly cited air-search range of more than 600 km. Two CFM56 engines give a cruise speed of about 853 km/h and an unrefuelled endurance of more than 10 hours, and the aircraft can also be refuelled in flight.
About 15 have been built: six E-7As for Australia, four E-7T Peace Eagles for Türkiye, four Peace Eye aircraft for South Korea and three Wedgetail AEW1s for the UK, the first of which arrived at RAF Lossiemouth in May 2026. Australian aircraft flew against ISIS from 2014 and helped monitor aid flows to Ukraine in 2023–2024. The USAF selected the E-7 in 2022 to replace the E-3; after a 2025 proposal to cancel it, Congress restored funding.
Key Specifications
Variants
Original Royal Australian Air Force version, flown by No. 2 Squadron from Williamtown.
Turkish version of four aircraft delivered in 2014–2015, with modification work by TUSAŞ and mission software support from HAVELSAN.
Royal Air Force version of three converted 737s, cut from five; the first arrived at Lossiemouth in May 2026.
Operators
Australia
Türkiye
South Korea
United KingdomFrequently Asked Questions
How many E-7 does Türkiye have?
Türkiye has four E-7T Peace Eagle (Barış Kartalı) aircraft. Delivered between February 2014 and December 2015, they are named Kuzey, Güney, Doğu and Batı and fly with the 131st Squadron at the 3rd Main Jet Base in Konya.
What is the range of the E-7 radar?
The E-7’s MESA radar has a commonly cited air-search range of more than 600 km. It provides 360-degree coverage from a fixed array and can track many air and sea targets at once, though Boeing does not publish an exact figure.
E-7 vs E-3 AWACS: what is the difference?
The E-7 carries a fixed electronically scanned radar on a Boeing 737, while the E-3 AWACS uses a rotating radome on a Boeing 707. The E-7 is the newer design, which is why the US Air Force chose it as the E-3’s successor.
Was the E-7 Wedgetail cancelled?
Not in the end. The June 2025 US budget proposal would have cancelled the USAF’s E-7 in favour of space-based sensors and the E-2D, but Congress restored funding and prototype work continued in 2026. NATO, however, dropped its own E-7 plan in late 2025.
Which countries use the E-7 Wedgetail?
Four countries use the E-7 Wedgetail: Australia (6), Türkiye (4), South Korea (4) and the United Kingdom, which ordered 3. The US Air Force plans to buy it, but American aircraft are not yet in service.
How much does the E-7 Wedgetail cost?
There is no single list price for the E-7. Programme costs include ground systems and support, so they are hard to compare; Türkiye’s four-aircraft Peace Eagle programme is commonly reported at roughly US$ 1–1.6 billion.
