NATO allies cancel E-7A Wedgetail order, eye replacement, says Netherlands

BELFAST — The Netherlands Ministry of Defence said today that together with “several [NATO] partner countries” they have jointly ended the acquisition of six Boeing E-7 Wedgetail Airborne Warning & Control System (AWACS) aircraft, due to the loss of “strategic and financial foundations.”

The Hague noted that a collection of eight NATO allies, including the US, were all involved in the program to replace E-3A Sentry planes with the E-7. Nations “united in the Support Partnership Committee, halted the acquisition of the E-7. The members are now exploring alternatives for fleet replacement and seeking new partners,” said a translated Netherlands MoD statement.

Confirming the Dutch stance, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told reporters today at the alliance’s AWACS main operating base in Geilenkirchen, Germany, that an E-3A Sentry replacement process is “ongoing.” He added, “I will do everything to make sure that we speed up that process. It is important that we speed it up.”

The NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) had not responded to a request for comment at press time. A Boeing spokesperson said in a statement to Breaking Defense that it “remains fully committed to NATO and allied nations’ airborne early warning and control needs. The E-7A is the most capable and mature AEW&C platform fielded today, with combat-proven capabilities, interoperability with alliance systems, and a ready industrial and sustainment framework to meet operational timelines.”

Based on the approval of allies, the NSPA initially decided to buy Wedgetail in 2023, targeting “operational duty by 2031” as part of the alliance’s initial Allied Future Surveillance and Control (iAFSC) project.

That program “is now undergoing significant changes,” the Dutch statement noted, after the US Air Force’s “withdrawal” from the Wedgetail effort. The USAF cancelled the troubled program in June 2024 due to soaring costs and survivability concerns, Breaking Defense previously reported.

On Wednesday, under a continuing appropriations and extensions for fiscal year 2026 bill, Congress proposed nearly $200 million for Wedgetail rapid prototyping activities, despite the Trump administration’s efforts to axe the program. That push is aligned to an alternative plan to rely on space-based capabilities to assist warplanes find and track enemy aircraft, more commonly known as the air moving target indicator (AMTI) mission.

“The US [Wedgetail] withdrawal also demonstrates the importance of investing as much as possible in European industry,” said Netherlands state secretary Gijs Tuinman, per the Dutch statement. “The goal remains to have other, quieter aircraft [succeeding the E-3A] operational by 2035.”

Although the Netherlands did not share which specific aircraft allies are assessing as candidates to replace Wedgetail, iAFSC was previously contested by Saab’s GlobalEye, Northrop Grumman’s E-2D, and L3Harris’s pitch for the Bombardier Global 6500 business jet “cross decked” with a Conformal Airborne Early Warning (CAEW) mission system, previously fitted on Gulfstream G550 platforms.

“We are prepared to participate in any NSPA-led competitive process with a rapidly available solution optimized for survivability and integrated with a communications suite that will provide interoperability with NATO and coalition partners,” said an L3Harris spokesperson in a statement to Breaking Defense. “Building upon our recent selection by the Republic of Korea for a next-generation AEW&C capability based on the Bombardier Global 6500, our solution will create a networked battlespace with fifth-generation aircraft and beyond.”

Stressing that the company is “tracking” reports from today regarding the E-7A procurement, the spokesperson added that “should NSPA issue a call for competition, we are ready to respond.”

Similarly, a Saab spokesperson said it is “aware of media reports related to NATO’s AWACS programme.” They noted a “significant increase in global interest for GlobalEye and we believe GlobalEye makes an excellent solution for many countries which need long-range detection and identification capabilities of objects in the air, at sea and over land. We are open to discuss and explore how our technology can support the needs of our potential customers.” 

Northrop Grumman declined to comment.

NATO currently operates a fleet of 14 E-3A units, but the prior decision to acquire six Wedgetails was justified at the time by an alliance official, on the basis that the limited buy was “recognized as the minimum number of aircraft that the strategic commands state is required to deliver the minimum operational capability for SACEUR’s [Supreme Allied Commander Europe] day-zero airborne air battle management capability.”

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the E-3 has been consistently used by NATO for surveillance missions across the eastern flank.

The latest Wedgetail setback also adds to technical and financial problems linked to the UK’s estimated £1.89 billion ($2.57 billion) program. Despite an original plan to field the aircraft in the “early” 2020s, an initial operational capability milestone has since been pushed to next year.

The UK originally signed a $1.98 billion contract with Boeing for the procurement of five aircraft to replace a fleet of E-3 planes, before committing to a reduced buy of three airframes on cost grounds.

Updated 11/14/2025 at 7:12 am ET with comment from Boeing.