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AURORA, Colorado—The U.S. Air Force will continue the two Boeing E-7A Wedgetail rapid prototypes and present a plan to Congress to transition to engineering and manufacturing development aircraft—but that does not mean it will be budgeted.
Congress in the fiscal 2026 spending and authorization bills reversed initial cuts to the airborne early warning and control fleet. Capitol Hill directed the Air Force to continue development of the two prototypes, including adding $1.1 billion for the prototyping activities and additional development and blocking program termination.
Air Force Secretary Troy Meink told reporters Feb. 24 that the service will do what it is told for now.
“We will, of course, follow congressional direction and we will do the rapid prototypes,” Meink says. “We will fund those rapid prototypes, and they told us to deliver a plan … Deliver a plan does not mean we’re going to put it into the budget.”
An Air Force spokesperson clarified the plan is to transition to engineering and manufacturing development aircraft. Meink spoke at the Air and Space Force Association’s Air Warfare Symposium here.
Boeing will assemble the two prototypes at the existing conversion line at STS Aviation in Birmingham, England. The 737-700s are being built at the line in Renton, Washington, and will be sent to England for missionization—including installation of the large Northrop Grumman Multi-Role Electronically Scanned Array radar.
The Pentagon in its 2026 budget request had called for cancellation of the program, citing concerns about survivability and the plan to eventually move the moving target indication mission to space. The E-7 is set to replace the aging, but in demand, E-3 AWACS fleet.
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