Just over a year after becoming the 27th Secretary of the Air Force, Troy Meink believes he’s making progress on his top priorities—increasing Air Force readiness, modernizing its aircraft fleet, and growing the nascent Space Force. In a June 26 interview with Air & Space Forces Magazine, Meink acknowledged headwinds but said the proof of his progress is in the fiscal ...
E-7 Wedgetail
The Pentagon is asking to shift money from the Navy’s E-2D Hawkeye and classified Air Force accounts to fund a $1.55 billion spending plan for its revived E-7 Wedgetail program in fiscal 2027, according to budget amendments submitted to Congress last week.
The famed U-2 Dragon Lady spy plane could get a reprieve from the Air Force’s chopping block under a new 2027 spending bill proposed by the House Appropriations defense subcommittee.
The House Armed Services Committee on June 4 approved an amendment to a key defense policy bill that would bar the Air Force from retiring E-3 Sentry aircraft through fiscal 2027.
The Pentagon has now committed to funding the E-7A Wedgetail in its 2027 budget request after previously zeroing out its spending.
Air Force leadership needs to have a "discussion" with Congress on the long-term future of the E-7 Wedgetail, Secretary Troy Meink said, after lawmakers blocked a Pentagon plan to cancel the program in 2026. Meink's remarks leave open the possibility that the Defense Department will ...
Congress is looking to add $900 million to save the E-7 airborne early warning and control aircraft from cancelation and $500 million to address "emerging needs" for the F-47 Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter in the fiscal 2026 appropriations bill released Jan. 20.
Congress is getting closer to saving the E-7 Wedgetail from the Pentagon chopping block, with the House of Representatives preparing to pass the presumptive final version of the National Defense Authorization bill this week.
NATO is abandoning its effort to buy E-7 Wedgetails to replace its aging E-3 AWACS, the Netherlands Ministry of Defense announced Nov. 13—a blow to the uncertain future of the new airborne early warning and control aircraft. The alliance announced...
“The Trump administration and the Department of War deserve commendation for revising their fiscal 2026 budget submission, which sought to cancel the E-7 airborne early warning and control aircraft. By reversing that decision, the administration has now addressed a looming capability gap and deepened NATO ...
Senators this week advanced a $852 billion defense spending bill for 2026 that would block cancellation of the Air Force’s E-7 early-warning aircraft program, continue military aid to Ukraine, and replenish U.S. weapons stockpiles in a rebuke of certain Trump administration priorities in the year ...
The Senate Armed Services Committee this week released the full text of its version of the 2026 defense policy bill—often referred to as the National Defense Authorization Act—that would allow the Air Force and Space Force to spend billions of dollars more than the services ...