US To Send 50-60 Airmen To Australia For Training On E-7 Aircraft In June - Air Force

The United States will send 50 to 60 of its airmen to Australia in June to get training on E-7 Early Warning aircraft to accelerate bringing into operation the US fleet of E-7s that is currently under construction, Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. Charles Brown said on Tuesday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd May, 2023) The United States will send 50 to 60 of its airmen to Australia in June to get training on E-7 Early Warning aircraft to accelerate bringing into operation the US fleet of E-7s that is currently under construction, Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. Charles Brown said on Tuesday.

"We're going to be able to send here (to Australia) in June close to 50 to 60 of our airmen to actually start training on the E-7 aircraft. When we do get our aircraft, we will have trained operational maintainers to help accelerate bringing the seven (E-7) into our inventory," Brown told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

In February, Boeing announced that it had won a $1.2 billion US Air Force contract for its new E-7A Wedgetail design to replace the venerable E-3 AWACS Early Warning Aircraft. The Air Force plans to have 26 E-7 aircraft by 2032, according to media reports.

Australia, Turkey, and South Korea already own and operate the aircraft, while the first E-7s are being produced for the British fleet at the moment, according to Defense news.