Garrison Davis
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
They act as both airborne radar stations and air traffic control towers, spotting threats up to 250 miles away and providing crucial early warning to forces in combat about incoming threats, particularly missiles and drones.
Drones really above anything else.
In other words, the E3 is really, really useful if you're, say, planning to have troops land on islands in a narrow strait surrounded by hostile forces who can shoot at you from the mainland.
Now, the AWACS themselves aren't technically irreplaceable, but they aren't easy to replace, especially on short notice.
Each one costs between $700 million and $1 billion, and we don't like make them anymore.
The average age of our remaining fleet is 45.
Per a relevant article in Task and Purpose magazine, nobody makes spare parts for the E-3's TF-33 engines anymore, which takes a toll on maintenance.
In 2022, General Mark Kelly, then the head of Air Combat Command, told reporters, "...we basically have 31 airplanes in hospice care, the most expensive care there is, and we need to get into the maternity business and out of hospices."
That's a weird metaphor for a plane designed to help you fight wars, but we'll move past that and into some ads.
So when we left off, I'd mentioned how in 2022, Mark Kelly, then the head of air combat command was like, we've only got about 31 of these AWACS and they're in hospice care.
And we need to like make some new AWACS that are modern and aren't falling apart and have engines being produced.
Unfortunately for our military, but fortunately for us,
The Pentagon voted against getting into the maternity business last year.
The E-7 Wedgetail, which is in service currently in the Royal Australian Air Force, was meant to replace the E-3s for the U.S.
Air Force, and the first of 26 new craft were supposed to arrive from Boeing in 2027.
But the project was killed last summer.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth argued it was, quote, sort of late, more expensive, and gold-plated.