Congress Backs Boeing’s E-7 Wedgetail with $1.1 Billion, Reversing Pentagon Cancellation
In a decisive move, U.S. lawmakers have allocated $1.1 billion for the U.S. Air Force’s Boeing E-7 Wedgetail program, dramatically reversing the Pentagon’s plan to cancel the next-generation radar jet. This funding, part of the latest defense spending bill, underscores a fierce congressional debate over how to replace the aging E-3 Sentry fleet.
Imagine the Pentagon trying to cancel a critical airborne eye-in-the-sky program, only for Congress to not only save it but pour an extra billion dollars into its development. That’s the remarkable story unfolding around the Boeing E-7 Wedgetail, an aircraft the U.S. Air Force once wanted but the Defense Department later sought to scrap. The recently released draft of the Fiscal Year 2026 Defense Appropriations Act includes a massive $1.1 billion for the Wedgetail, stated the Senate Appropriations Committee. This comes on top of over $1 billion already committed in previous bills, signaling unwavering legislative support.
The funding is explicitly designated to “continue E-7 rapid prototyping activities and transition to engineering and manufacturing development,” according to the committee’s joint explanatory statement. Furthermore, the bill includes a provision that prohibits the use of funds to pause, cancel, or terminate the E-7 program. This legislative muscle-flexing aims to secure the future of a jet seen as the only viable near-term successor to the Air Force’s venerable but struggling E-3 Sentry AWACS planes.
Why the congressional insistence? The story begins with a capability gap. The Air Force’s 16 E-3 Sentries are Cold War-era aircraft that are notoriously expensive and difficult to maintain. The Boeing 737-based E-7 Wedgetail, already operational with allies like Australia and South Korea, offers a modern, more fuel-efficient platform with a powerful Northrop Grumman Multi-role Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) radar. Last year, however, the Pentagon shocked observers by proposing to cancel the E-7 purchase. Officials cited concerns about cost overruns, schedule delays, and the jet’s potential vulnerability in a high-end conflict against an adversary like China.
Instead, the Department of Defense floated an alternative plan, reported Breaking Defense: buy U.S. Navy E-2D Advanced Hawkeyes as an interim solution while rushing to develop a future space-based sensor layer. Lawmakers and experts immediately pushed back. They questioned whether the smaller, carrier-optimized E-2D could truly fill the AWACS role and doubted the timeline for elusive space-based tracking of airborne targets. Gen. Chance Saltzman, the Chief of Space Operations, highlighted the technical challenge himself in December, stating that an air moving-target indicator (AMTI) capability from orbit is fundamentally different and harder than tracking ground targets.
“Things on the ground move slower than things in the air, so [they] require different levels of fidelity tracks,” Saltzman explained, according to Breaking Defense. This admission underscored the risk of leaving a gap in airborne early warning and battle management. With the E-3 fleet aging out and space-based solutions not yet ready, Congress decided the Boeing E-7 was not just an option but a necessity.
The path ahead still has hurdles. Even with robust funding, the Wedgetail’s initial operational capability has slipped to 2032, according to the Government Accountability Office. The Air Force must now streamline the program and control costs, as directed by Congress. But the message from Capitol Hill is crystal clear: after a year of uncertainty, the Boeing E-7 Wedgetail program is not just back on track—it’s being propelled forward with decisive financial and legislative force.