Air Marshal Robert Chipman, Air Chief Marshal Rich Knighton and Gen. CQ Brown signed a pledge to jointly develop E-7 upgrades in the future.
RAF FAIRFORD, England—The heads of three air forces in Australia, the UK and the U.S. have pledged to work together on future upgrades of the Boeing E-7A Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft.
The “joint vision statement” signed on July 14 during a private ceremony at the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) here is not a legal contract, but offers a public commitment for the signatories to work together developing new capabilities for their Wedgetail fleets.
The agreement was signed by Air Marshal Robert Chipman of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Air Chief Marshal Rich Knighton of the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Gen. C.Q. Brown of the U.S. Air Force.
“The signing of this Joint Vision Statement by our three Air Forces is an exciting opportunity that will allow us to work collaboratively to develop our Wedgetail fleets to ensure that they remain ready to provide Airborne Early Warning & Control as the threats and challenges we face change,” Chipman said in a statement released by the RAF July 15.
The RAAF launched development of the E-7 more than 20 years ago, and the first of six aircraft entered service in No. 2 Squadron at the end of 2009.
Boeing partner STS is modifying three 737s to become E-7 aircraft for the RAF. And the U.S. Air Force ordered the first two of potentially 26 E-7s last March.
About 40 of a planned cadre of 70 U.S. Air Force airmen are now in Australia to be trained on the E-7 by the RAAF.
The trilateral agreement does not call for any specific upgrades, but creates a process for joint development in the future.
“What it does is it gets all of us on the same page and how we want to work together as we move forward to operationalize this capability,” Kelli Seybolt, the U.S. Air Force’s deputy under secretary for international affairs, told reporters during RIAT.
Boeing plans to support upgrades that come out of the agreement.
“You’re going to see nations working together to bring capability on—obviously, rapid change and evolution of the platform from what the threat drives,” said Dan Gillian, Boeing’s vice president of mobility, surveillance and bombers.
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