Washington: US Air Force has cancelled the E-7 Wedgetail program due to ballooning costs and concerns about survivability, a senior military official confirmed.
The termination, announced as part of the fiscal 2026 budget rollout, comes after months of rumours that the Boeing-helmed aircraft program was in danger as the Trump administration increasingly sets its sights on instead using space-based capabilities to help warplanes find and track enemy aircraft, known as the air moving target indicator (AMTI) mission.
“The Department is cancelling the E-7 Wedgetail program due to significant delays with cost increases from $588 million to $724 million for aircraft and survivability concerns in this contested environment, while investing in alternate solutions, including space-based capabilities and adding additional E-2D aircraft,” the senior military official told reporters in a briefing.
The official added that the Wedgetail, while a “perfectly great” platform, doesn’t match with the department’s current ambitions to have a sensing solution that would cover the entire globe instead of a more limited theatre.
