Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday cast doubt on the future utility of airborne battle management aircraft, particularly the E-7 Wedgetail, and said space-based capabilities represent the future of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
Hegseth’s skepticism of the E-7 and touting of space intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, or ISR, may presage a split between the Pentagon’s top leadership and Air Force leaders and some lawmakers who feel that airborne assets are still the best option for managing battlefields.
The Air Force wants to buy 26 Boeing-made E-7s, which have been flown for years by Australia and are being bought by other nations such as the United Kingdom, to replace its fleet of aging E-3 Sentry airborne warning and control system, or AWACS, planes. The AWACS, with its unmistakable massive radar dome high atop its fuselage, has been in service since the late 1970s, but is approaching the end of its life, and its capabilities are falling short in many ways.
But while Air Force leaders often speak about the E-7’s importance for the service’s future battlefield needs, reports have swirled in recent months that the White House is seriously considering scrapping the Air Force’s plans to buy the planes in favor of a space-based option.
The Pentagon is researching shifting moving target indication — the use of radar or other technology to identify and track targets and tell them apart from friendly or civilian assets — to satellites instead of aircraft, but top officials have said those demonstrations have not yet shown enough data to draw conclusions and that both air- and space-based systems will be needed.
In Tuesday’s House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense hearing, Oklahoma Republican Rep. Tom Cole — whose district includes Tinker Air Force Base, where most of the service’s 16 remaining E-3s are stationed — stressed the importance of bringing on the E-7 to replace the AWACS. While space-based ISR shows promise, Cole said, aircraft like the E-7 bring capabilities that will still be needed even when those satellites are operational.
“It’s not a new technology,” Cole said of the E-7. “Our friends in Australia use it. Our friends in the United Kingdom use it. It’s much superior to what we have.”
Hegseth responded that the Pentagon is rethinking its investments, in part based on lessons learned from the war in Ukraine and from watching China’s own military modernizations. And if systems will not be able to survive in a modern war, or give the U.S. enough of an advantage, Hegseth said, “We have to make the tough decisions right now.”
“It’s our job to fund those new systems and make tough calls,” Hegseth said. “So the E-7 is an example of that. We’re going to fund existing platforms that are there more robustly and make sure they’re modernized. But we believe most of the ISR, or a great deal of ISR, in the future will be space-based.”
“We’re funding capabilities that will surpass some of those airborne capabilities,” Hegseth continued. “So we’re willing to continue to review things like the E-7. But from our view, investments in existing systems that carry forward that capability alongside even bigger investments in space-based ISR gives us the kind of advantages we need on a future battlefield.”
Cole said Hegseth made a “fair point,” but asked him to use caution when shifting course on the E-7 procurement.
“We got a platform here that works,” Cole said of the E-7. “Space is great. It’s unknown. It’s undeveloped. And I would just urge you to look at this pretty carefully as you make the decision.”
The Air Force declined to comment on Hegseth’s remarks on the E-7.
In a separate hearing on May 6, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin said satellites are not yet ready to take over all airborne moving target indication missions, even though they provide crucial sensing capabilities.
Former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said in a May interview with Defense News that a satellite-based moving target indication capability still faces several technical challenges, including whether it could have enough power, penetrate cloud cover and withstand enemy attacks. Kendall said a moving target indication system based entirely in space would take years to field and not be ready by the time the E-3 fleet would need to be retired.
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.
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