RAF FAIRFORD, England—The U.S. Air Force has reached a deal with Boeing for the new E-7 Wedgetail radar plane. They brought in former Pentagon official Shay Assad to negotiate and reach a final agreement with Boeing, as announced by Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall. Assad is known for driving hard bargains and saving taxpayers money in previous negotiations with Boeing and Lockheed in the 2010s.
The deal is for two test aircraft in the rapid prototyping program, which were ordered last year. This program will provide an affordable basis for future production. Boeing and its suppliers worked to bring down costs, motivated by the extensive market for the E-7 with NATO and other partners. Boeing’s Wedgetail won the NATO competition last year to replace the alliance’s fleet of E-3 Sentry AWACS-carrying radar planes.
The Air Force plans to buy a total of 26 E-7s as they begin retiring their E-3s. The E-7 will be a more survivable radar plane to handle airborne domain awareness in the Indo-Pacific region.
