The UK Royal Air Force's (RAF) first Boeing E-7 Wedgetail AEW MK1, WT001, completed a functional check flight on 20 September, taking off from Birmingham Airport where STS Aviation Services has been modifying the aircraft.
"This safe and systematic Functional Check Flight is an important step for Boeing and the RAF as part of our rigorous and extensive testing and evaluation," said Boeing vice president and E-7 program manager, Stu Voboril.
"Our team is committed to ensuring the E-7 delivers the safety, quality, and capabilities we've promised to our customer as we prepare for delivery of the UK's first E-7 Wedgetail to the RAF."
The RAF originally ordered five Wedgetails to replace seven E-3D Sentry aircraft, however, in 2021 the order was cut to three. Despite the cuts, the UK will still receive five Northrop Grumman MESA radars, as radars four and five were in production when the cut was announced.
"Achieving the first flight of Wedgetail is a significant milestone, representing an outstanding effort from the RAF programme team, Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S), Boeing, and STS Aviation Services," said the RAF's Program Director for Wedgetail, Group Captain Richard Osselton
"We will now build on this success and look forward to continuing the Test & Evaluation phase as part of our preparations for the aircraft to enter service with the RAF.”
Pending the completion of the test and evaluation program, it is expected that the aircraft will receive a RAF livery before the beginning of December.