Overview
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the department sent a budget amendment to the White House budget office to add money for the Boeing E-7 Wedgetail, an airborne early warning and control plane.
- An Air Force spokesperson said the 2027 budget request still has no E-7 funding and that the service is reviewing ways to pay for rapid prototypes and engineering work.
- Lawmakers kept the program alive in the 2026 spending bill after Pentagon leaders moved to zero it out over survivability and cost concerns.
- Air Force Secretary Troy Meink told Congress the service has signed contracts for five additional E-7 aircraft along with two rapid-prototype jets already in work.
- The shift could bolster Boeing’s production plans and renew foreign interest, including from NATO partners that cooled after earlier U.S. hesitation.