NATO has selected its next generation command and control aircraft as the Alliance’s existing Airborne Warning and Control (AWACS) fleet nears retirement.

Production of the six new Boeing’s E-7A Wedgetail aircraft is set to begin in the coming years, with the first aircraft expected to be ready for operational duty by 2031. A consortium of Allies gave their approval to the project, one of NATO’s biggest-ever capability purchases, this month.

NATO has operated a fleet of E-3A Airborne Warning and Control (AWACS) aircraft since the 1980s. Based at Geilenkirchen airbase in Germany, the AWACS have flown in every major NATO operation, including the fight against ISIS as well as on NATO’s eastern flank following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The E-7 is expected to have its main base at Geilenkirchen and could operate from several forward locations across Europe.

The Wedgetail will be part of the Alliance’s future surveillance and control project which will field NATO’s next generation of surveillance systems from the mid-2030s.

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