{"id":38660,"date":"2022-07-17T12:02:27","date_gmt":"2022-07-17T12:02:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2022\/07\/17\/air-force-says-options-limited-for-speeding-up-wedgetail\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:04:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:04:21","slug":"air-force-says-options-limited-for-speeding-up-wedgetail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2022\/07\/17\/air-force-says-options-limited-for-speeding-up-wedgetail\/","title":{"rendered":"US Air Force says options limited for speeding deliveries of Wedgetail"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">RAF FAIRFORD, England \u2014 The Air Force is trying to find ways to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2022\/05\/17\/as-air-force-plans-for-new-aircraft-senators-worry-about-capability-gaps\/\" target=\"_blank\">speed delivery<\/a> of the E-7 Wedgetail, but the service\u2019s top acquisition official said July 16 there may not be much that can be done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Air Force in April <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2022\/04\/26\/its-the-wedgetail-air-force-to-buy-e-7-to-replace-awacs\/\" target=\"_blank\">chose the Boeing-made Wedgetail<\/a> to be its next battle management and command and control aircraft, replacing part of its aging E-3 Airborne Warning and Control fleet. But the service said in the announcement the first rapid prototype E-7 would be delivered in fiscal 2027, following a contract award to Boeing in fiscal 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Air Force wants to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2022\/03\/28\/air-force-would-cut-150-aircraft-including-a-10s-buy-fewer-f-35s-in-2023-budget\/\" target=\"_blank\">retire 15 of its 31 decades-old AWACS<\/a> in 2023, years before the first E-7\u2032s anticipated delivery, generating concern among lawmakers like Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., about a potential capability gap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a roundtable with reporters at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2022\/07\/16\/us-air-force-mulls-skipping-tanker-competition-as-confidence-in-boeings-kc-46-builds\/\" target=\"_blank\">Royal International Air Tattoo<\/a> at RAF Fairford in England, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2022\/06\/27\/air-force-acquisition-chief-talks-drone-wingmen-supply-chains-and-the-b-21\/\" target=\"_blank\">Andrew Hunter<\/a>, assistant Air Force secretary for acquisition, technology and logistics, sought to temper expectations about how much the process could be expedited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI don\u2019t know that ultimately, there\u2019s a huge opportunity to dramatically accelerate\u201d achieving initial operational capability for the Wedgetail, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Adapting used airframes likely isn\u2019t an option, Hunter said. While the Wedgetail is based on Boeing\u2019s 737 air frame, it has a \u201cunique combination\u201d of components that means there aren\u2019t many used airframes the government could acquire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Wedgetail acquisition will also require software development, making use of open systems architecture, Hunter said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This software development will also take time, he said, but when Boeing has the first new Wedgetail air frame built and ready to be \u201cmissionized,\u201d the Air Force will be ready to load that equipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019re going to have this as something that works in a completely integrated way with our Air Force fleet,\u201d Hunter said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He noted the Air Force has learned a great deal in recent years from mistakes made in the FAA certification process, such as underestimating the information the FAA would need and subsequently delaying the MH-139 Grey Wolf helicopter\u2019s certification. While Hunter said he isn\u2019t taking that part of the process for granted, he said he\u2019s confident the FAA will certify the new E-7s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The FAA is required to review the avionics and other systems of new military aircraft and certify they are safe and functional before the aircraft can be delivered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the May hearing in which Duckworth raised concerns about the timing of the Wedgetail delivery, Lt. Gen. Duke Richardson, Hunter\u2019s military deputy, said the Air Force might be able to buy E-7s more quickly once the certification process is done. But he also cautioned not to rush the contract process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.S. Air Force is talking to its Australian and British counterparts to learn how it can accelerate the process, he said. The Royal Australian Air Force has flown the Wedgetail for years, and the Royal Air Force has bought Wedgetails and is expected to start flying them next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Air Force has also consulted the Navy, whose P-8 Poseidon is a modified 737 like the Wedgetail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere\u2019s a community of interest around that aircraft, and that gives us some opportunity to work with our partners to get to the right answer,\u201d Hunter said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the E-7 is a nearly two-decade old model, Hunter said it will provide a modern and considerable upgrade in capability from the aging E-3 Sentry. And its use of modular open systems architecture will allow its software-oriented radar systems to be regularly upgraded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe capability is impressive,\u201d Hunter said. \u201cIt\u2019s a night and day difference.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Air Force acquisition chief Andrew Hunter said the E-7 Wedgetail&#8217;s capabilities are impressive, and a &#8220;night and day&#8221; difference from the old AWACS planes slated for retirement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":82133,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":7,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"9":{"categories":["battlefield-tech","industry"],"primary_category":"battlefield-tech"}}},"categories":[7,159,160,29,87,36,30],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3412],"class_list":["post-38660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air","category-battlefield-360","category-daily-news-roundup","category-digital-show-dailies","category-farnborough","category-newsletters","category-smr"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"AIHXUDM7VFEH7DSJ3FXNJIFFCE","arc_canonical_url":"\/air\/2022\/07\/17\/air-force-says-options-limited-for-speeding-up-wedgetail\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>US Air Force says options limited for speeding deliveries of Wedgetail - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Air Force acquisition chief Andrew Hunter said the E-7 Wedgetail&#039;s capabilities are impressive, and a &quot;night and day&quot; difference from the old AWACS planes slated for retirement.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US Air Force says options limited for speeding deliveries of Wedgetail\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Air Force acquisition chief Andrew Hunter said the E-7 Wedgetail&#039;s capabilities are impressive, and a &quot;night and day&quot; difference from the old AWACS planes slated for retirement.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2022\/07\/17\/air-force-says-options-limited-for-speeding-up-wedgetail\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Defense News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-07-17T12:02:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T23:04:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Stephen Losey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Stephen Losey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/17\\\/air-force-says-options-limited-for-speeding-up-wedgetail\\\/#article\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/17\\\/air-force-says-options-limited-for-speeding-up-wedgetail\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"author\": {\n\t                \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"headline\": \"US Air Force says options limited for speeding deliveries of Wedgetail\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2022-07-17T12:02:27+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-07T23:04:21+00:00\",\n\t            \"mainEntityOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/17\\\/air-force-says-options-limited-for-speeding-up-wedgetail\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"wordCount\": 611,\n\t            \"commentCount\": 0,\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/17\\\/air-force-says-options-limited-for-speeding-up-wedgetail\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/RAAF-Wedgetail.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"articleSection\": [\n\t                \"Air Warfare\",\n\t                \"Battlefield 360\",\n\t                \"Daily News Roundup\",\n\t                \"Digital Show Dailies\",\n\t                \"Farnborough\",\n\t                \"Newsletters\",\n\t                \"Special Multimedia Reports\"\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"CommentAction\",\n\t                    \"name\": \"Comment\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/17\\\/air-force-says-options-limited-for-speeding-up-wedgetail\\\/#respond\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/17\\\/air-force-says-options-limited-for-speeding-up-wedgetail\\\/\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/17\\\/air-force-says-options-limited-for-speeding-up-wedgetail\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"US Air Force says options limited for speeding deliveries of Wedgetail - Defense News\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#website\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"primaryImageOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/17\\\/air-force-says-options-limited-for-speeding-up-wedgetail\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/17\\\/air-force-says-options-limited-for-speeding-up-wedgetail\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/RAAF-Wedgetail.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2022-07-17T12:02:27+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-07T23:04:21+00:00\",\n\t            \"description\": \"Air Force acquisition chief Andrew Hunter said the E-7 Wedgetail's capabilities are impressive, and a \\\"night and day\\\" difference from the old AWACS planes slated for retirement.\",\n\t            \"breadcrumb\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/17\\\/air-force-says-options-limited-for-speeding-up-wedgetail\\\/#breadcrumb\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ReadAction\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/17\\\/air-force-says-options-limited-for-speeding-up-wedgetail\\\/\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/17\\\/air-force-says-options-limited-for-speeding-up-wedgetail\\\/#primaryimage\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/RAAF-Wedgetail.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/RAAF-Wedgetail.jpg.jpg\"\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"BreadcrumbList\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/17\\\/air-force-says-options-limited-for-speeding-up-wedgetail\\\/#breadcrumb\",\n\t            \"itemListElement\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 1,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Home\",\n\t                    \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t                    \"ad_zone\": \"home\"\n\t                },\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 2,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Air Warfare\",\n\t                    \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/\",\n\t                    \"ad_zone\": \"air\"\n\t                },\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 3,\n\t                    \"name\": \"US Air Force says options limited for speeding deliveries of Wedgetail\"\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebSite\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#website\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Defense News\",\n\t            \"description\": \"Covering the politics, business and technology of defense | Defense News\",\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"SearchAction\",\n\t                    \"target\": {\n\t                        \"@type\": \"EntryPoint\",\n\t                        \"urlTemplate\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"\n\t                    },\n\t                    \"query-input\": {\n\t                        \"@type\": \"PropertyValueSpecification\",\n\t                        \"valueRequired\": true,\n\t                        \"valueName\": \"search_term_string\"\n\t                    }\n\t                }\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\"\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Organization\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Defense News\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t            \"logo\": {\n\t                \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t                \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\n\t                \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/defensenews-logo-white.png\",\n\t                \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/defensenews-logo-white.png\",\n\t                \"caption\": \"Defense News\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"\n\t            }\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\",\n\t            \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t                \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=gcf4cb6ee0ec29e49e7a963234e4340ec\",\n\t                \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\n\t                \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\n\t                \"caption\": \"migration\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/author\\\/migration\\\/\"\n\t        }\n\t    ]\n\t}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"US Air Force says options limited for speeding deliveries of Wedgetail - Defense News","description":"Air Force acquisition chief Andrew Hunter said the E-7 Wedgetail's capabilities are impressive, and a \"night and day\" difference from the old AWACS planes slated for retirement.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"US Air Force says options limited for speeding deliveries of Wedgetail","og_description":"Air Force acquisition chief Andrew Hunter said the E-7 Wedgetail's capabilities are impressive, and a \"night and day\" difference from the old AWACS planes slated for retirement.","og_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2022\/07\/17\/air-force-says-options-limited-for-speeding-up-wedgetail\/","og_site_name":"Defense News","article_published_time":"2022-07-17T12:02:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-08-07T23:04:21+00:00","author":"Stephen Losey","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Stephen Losey","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2022\/07\/17\/air-force-says-options-limited-for-speeding-up-wedgetail\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2022\/07\/17\/air-force-says-options-limited-for-speeding-up-wedgetail\/"},"author":{"name":"migration","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/person\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1"},"headline":"US Air Force says options limited for speeding deliveries of Wedgetail","datePublished":"2022-07-17T12:02:27+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-07T23:04:21+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2022\/07\/17\/air-force-says-options-limited-for-speeding-up-wedgetail\/"},"wordCount":611,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2022\/07\/17\/air-force-says-options-limited-for-speeding-up-wedgetail\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/RAAF-Wedgetail.jpg.jpg","articleSection":["Air Warfare","Battlefield 360","Daily News Roundup","Digital Show Dailies","Farnborough","Newsletters","Special Multimedia Reports"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2022\/07\/17\/air-force-says-options-limited-for-speeding-up-wedgetail\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2022\/07\/17\/air-force-says-options-limited-for-speeding-up-wedgetail\/","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2022\/07\/17\/air-force-says-options-limited-for-speeding-up-wedgetail\/","name":"US Air Force says options limited for speeding deliveries of Wedgetail - Defense News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2022\/07\/17\/air-force-says-options-limited-for-speeding-up-wedgetail\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2022\/07\/17\/air-force-says-options-limited-for-speeding-up-wedgetail\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/RAAF-Wedgetail.jpg.jpg","datePublished":"2022-07-17T12:02:27+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-07T23:04:21+00:00","description":"Air Force acquisition chief Andrew Hunter said the E-7 Wedgetail's capabilities are impressive, and a \"night and day\" difference from the old AWACS planes slated for retirement.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2022\/07\/17\/air-force-says-options-limited-for-speeding-up-wedgetail\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2022\/07\/17\/air-force-says-options-limited-for-speeding-up-wedgetail\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2022\/07\/17\/air-force-says-options-limited-for-speeding-up-wedgetail\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/RAAF-Wedgetail.jpg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/RAAF-Wedgetail.jpg.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2022\/07\/17\/air-force-says-options-limited-for-speeding-up-wedgetail\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","ad_zone":"home"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Air Warfare","item":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/","ad_zone":"air"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"US Air Force says options limited for speeding deliveries of Wedgetail"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","name":"Defense News","description":"Covering the politics, business and technology of defense | Defense News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization","name":"Defense News","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/defensenews-logo-white.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/defensenews-logo-white.png","caption":"Defense News"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/person\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1","name":"migration","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=gcf4cb6ee0ec29e49e7a963234e4340ec","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"migration"},"url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/author\/migration\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Defense News","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews","push-errors":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/RAAF-Wedgetail.jpg.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38660"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38671,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38660\/revisions\/38671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38660"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=38660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}