DAYTON, Ohio — With pressure on the U.S. Air Force to field its upcoming fleet of E-7A battlefield management aircraft as quickly as possible, the service is leaning heavily on advance procurement.
The Air Force desires to have a fleet of as much as 26 of the Boeing-made command-and-control aircraft by 2032 to switch the aging E-3 Sentry. The latter’s airborne warning and control capabilities are lagging, and the fleet is nearing the tip of its life. The Air Force is now retiring half its fleet of 31, though some lawmakers last 12 months expressed concern that would leave the service with a capability gap.
However the Air Force’s ambitions to swiftly replace the E-3 in time for a possible fight against China, perhaps later this decade, are running into the realities of production limitations.
In a discussion with reporters on the Air Force’s Life Cycle Industry Days event in Dayton, Ohio, this system executive officer for digital services, Steven Wert, outlined steps the Air Force is taking to speed up advance production and delivery of crucial components for the E-7 in hopes of speeding up the timetable for completing the planes.
The Air Force is now specializing in how quickly it could construct the primary E-7, Wert said — but there are limitations. Boeing first has to construct the airframe using a 737 tube manufactured by Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita, Kansas; beef up its structure to have the opportunity to support the large multirole electronically scanned array, or MESA, radar; add its mission systems; after which test and certify its airworthiness.
The Air Force is working to speed up the strategy of constructing subsequent E-7s, largely through funding for long-lead items. By purchasing critical components upfront and making them available before they’re actually needed, the Air Force wants to make sure production lines don’t decelerate while manufacturers wait for parts to reach.
Wert pointed to a July 26 service announcement that the Air Force will issue a sole-source award for an unspecified amount to Boeing so it could buy more long-lead items for the low-rate initial production of the E-7, which is anticipated to start in fiscal 2025.
Wert said Monday this advance procurement will cover multiple key areas, including the E-7′s airframe, its conversion and structural strengthening, and the MESA radar, which is nicknamed “top hat” for its distinctive shape.
The Air Force’s list of unfunded priorities for the FY24 budget asks for one more $596 million for E-7 advance procurement funds.
Boeing said earlier this 12 months that after the Air Force’s E-7 program is fully up and running, it plans to construct at the least 4 annually.
Wert said the production of the large Northrop Grumman-made MESA radar is one in all the limiting aspects on E-7 production. The corporate can now construct two radars per 12 months, and is trying to expand that production capability to 4.
The Air Force can be working with Boeing to seek out ways to maintain the E-7′s cost down, Wert said, by ensuring its software architecture is modular and simply supportable, for instance. The Air Force has assigned a few of its own software developers from Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, to directly work with Boeing on the E-7′s software, he added.
Above all, he explained, the Air Force doesn’t want the E-7 to repeat its experience with the Boeing-made E-3 Sentry program, where the service had to return to the unique manufacturer for any changes.
Other countries have shown interest in buying E-7s, increasing the pressure on Northrop to supply more radars, Wert noted. Northrop is already investing in ways to double its radar production capability, he said, and the corporate could find ways to go even further.
“We may thoroughly be very busy,” Wert said.
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.