US, British crew get a taste of Australia’s E-7A command planes

KATHERINE, Australia — U.S. and British personnel joined a Royal Australian Air Force crew to train on the Boeing E-7A Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft as part of a multinational air combat exercise here in northern Australia.

Speaking to media during a visit to RAAF Base Tindal near Katherine, detachment commander Squadron Leader Adam Paull of 2 Squadron, which operates the Australian E-7As, said that the aircraft flew alternately in support of both blue and red air missions at the exercise, as well as performing overall airspace control and management at Exercise Pitch Black. The blue and red color designations are military jargon for simulated friendly and adversary factions, respectively.

Also attending the media session was Air Battle Manager Maj. Christopher Dunn of the United States Air Force and Flight Lieutenant Sophie Gale of the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force.

Both the U.S. and British air forces have ongoing acquisition programs to buy the E-7A, which is based on a commercial Boeing 737 airliner and is fitted with a Northrop Grumman multi-role electronically scanned array radar on a fairing on top of its fuselage.

Dunn said his transition to the E-7A from the current Boeing E-3 Sentrys was relatively seamless due to the relatively similarity in user interfaces on both platforms, with the key difference being the smaller number of operator consoles on the E-7A.

The the main benefits of the new plane type were the modern, electronically scanned array radar and communications suite and the improved reliability of the newer airframe, he explained.

Dunn is on a three-year tour with the Australian air service, which is expected to end in 2024 or 2025, an experience he expects to apply to the envisioned U.S. Air Force E-7A fleet. He told Defense News that there are currently three U.S. personnel embedded with 2 Sqn, including a U.S. Navy operator trained on E-2D Hawkeye carrier-borne aircraft.

He also expects the embedding of U.S. military personnel to 2 Sqn to ramp up in the coming months, as the U.S. Air Force seeks to build up a cadre of operators in the lead up to the service receiving its first aircraft in 2027.

The Royal Air Force’s Gale, who is an asset manager for the mission computing system and an engineer officer trained on helicopters, said that her service’s embedding of personnel here was not just to train operationally but also to help the UK’s E-7A project office make informed decisions about acquisition and sustainment contracts.

The RAF has around 40 maintainers, technicians, and aircrew embedded with 2 Sqn, which is normally based at Williamtown, north of Australia’s largest city Sydney on the country’s southeast coast.

Paull said the advantage of bringing over personnel from different backgrounds and trained on vastly different platforms into their own program enabled the sharing of fresh perspectives and ideas into their own systems.

During the Pitch Black exercise, which runs from Aug. 19 to Sept. 8 and involves aircraft from 10 countries, the Australian E-7A took turns flying missions alongside a Gulfstream G550 aircraft of the Republic of Singapore Air Force.

Paull told reporters that the aircraft also flew missions in support of a separate training exercise in northern Australia involving U.S. Air Force F-22A Raptor and Australian F-35A Lightning II stealth fighters.

The American Raptors, which are assigned to 15th Wing at Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam in Hawaii, are in Australia as part of the Enhanced Air Cooperation (EAC) program between Australia and the United States.

Mike Yeo is the Asia correspondent for Defense News.

澳大利亚凯瑟琳——作为在澳大利亚北部举行的多国空中作战演习的一部分，美国和英国人员与澳大利亚皇家空军机组人员一起，在波音 E-7A 楔尾空中预警和控制飞机上进行训练。

在访问位于凯瑟琳附近的廷德尔皇家空军基地期间，澳大利亚第2中队分遣队指挥官亚当·保罗中队长向媒体表示，该中队装备的E-7A预警机在“漆黑演习”中交替执行蓝方和红方空中任务，并负责空域的整体控制和管理。蓝方和红方分别是模拟友军和敌军的军事术语。

出席媒体见面会的还有美国空军空战经理克里斯托弗·邓恩少校和英国皇家空军飞行中尉索菲·盖尔。

美国和英国空军都有正在进行的采购计划，以购买 E-7A 预警机。该机以波音 737 商用客机为基础，并在机身顶部的整流罩上安装了诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司的多用途电子扫描阵列雷达。

邓恩表示，由于波音 E-3 哨兵预警机和 E-7A 预警机的用户界面相对相似，他从目前的波音 E-3 哨兵预警机过渡到 E-7A 预警机的过程相对顺利，主要区别在于 E-7A 预警机的操作员控制台数量较少。

他解释说，这种新型飞机的主要优点是配备了现代化的电子扫描阵列雷达和通信套件，以及新型机身可靠性的提高。

邓恩目前正在澳大利亚空军服役三年，预计将于2024年或2025年结束。他希望将这段经历应用到美国空军计划中的E-7A机队中。他告诉《防务新闻》，目前有三名美国人员驻扎在第2中队，其中包括一名接受过E-2D“鹰眼”舰载预警机训练的美国海军操作员。

他还预计，随着美国空军在 2027 年接收首架飞机之前努力培养一批操作人员，未来几个月美国军事人员将逐步增派到第 2 中队。

英国皇家空军的盖尔是任务计算系统的资产管理员，也是一名接受过直升机训练的工程师军官。她说，她的部队在这里部署人员不仅是为了进行作战训练，也是为了帮助英国 E-7A 项目办公室就采购和维护合同做出明智的决定。

英国皇家空军在第 2 中队驻扎了约 40 名维护人员、技术人员和机组人员，该中队通常驻扎在位于澳大利亚最大城市悉尼以北、该国东南海岸的威廉镇。

Paull 表示，将来自不同背景、接受过截然不同的平台培训的人员引入到他们自己的项目中，其优势在于能够将新的视角和想法融入到他们自己的系统中。

在 8 月 19 日至 9 月 8 日举行的“漆黑行动”演习中，来自 10 个国家的飞机参与其中，澳大利亚的 E-7A 预警机与新加坡共和国空军的湾流 G550 飞机轮流执行飞行任务。

保罗告诉记者，这架飞机还执行了支援澳大利亚北部另一项训练演习的任务，该演习涉及美国空军的 F-22A 猛禽战斗机和澳大利亚的 F-35A 闪电 II 隐形战斗机。

隶属于夏威夷珍珠港-希卡姆联合基地第 15 联队的美国猛禽战机目前在澳大利亚，这是澳大利亚和美国之间加强空中合作 (EAC) 计划的一部分。

Mike Yeo 是《防务新闻》的亚洲通讯员。