The House of Representatives is giving the Air Force’s E-7 Wedgetail program a second life, approving a $1.55 billion funding shift to pull the airborne battle management aircraft back from the scrap heap.
After bureaucrats at the White House budget office tried to cannibalize the Navy’s E-2D Hawkeye funds to make it happen, lawmakers put their foot down, steering money toward the E-7 while refusing to gut a critical Navy radar platform.
The funding maneuver emerged from the House Appropriations Committee’s fiscal year 2027 War Department bill, which reroutes existing funds but restores vital naval capabilities that the Biden administration had tried to raid.
In a June 17 budget amendment to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., the White House’s Office of Management and Budget asked to push more than $1.55 billion into the Air Force’s R&D coffers to continue development of the E-7.
The program had been shelved by Pentagon leadership just last year, citing rising costs and uncertainty about survivability in contested airspace.
To make it happen, OMB sought to slash $651 million from the Navy’s E-2D Hawkeye radar aircraft account and another $899 million from a classified Air Force program.
The administration’s proposal would have effectively robbed Peter to pay Paul, gutting one critical platform to save another.
House appropriators didn’t take kindly to that kind of gamesmanship. While they approved the E-7 realignment, they rejected the Biden team’s raid on the Navy budget, restoring the $651 million meant for the carrier-based Hawkeye program.
The committee made clear both aircraft are essential to U.S. warfighting readiness—particularly with the war raging in Iran underscoring just how thin America’s airborne command and control capabilities have become.
“The conflict in Iran has reinforced the need for the Air Force to maintain a credible airborne battle management capability,” the report said, pointing out that the aging E-3 AWACS and the Navy’s E-2D Hawkeye remain the backbone of current theater operations. “As the E-3 is set to retire, the E-7 Wedgetail will serve as modern replacement for lost battle management capability.”
The current $1.55 billion will fund two prototype E-7 Wedgetails and continued engineering, manufacturing, and development work. While the Air Force already has seven aircraft on contract—two as rapid prototypes and five more under a modification agreement from March—none are production-ready.
These are developmental assets designed to prove the U.S.-specific configuration before moving to full-scale manufacture.
Lawmakers, however, are not content with rosy PowerPoint timelines. They’ve ordered the Air Force Secretary to brief both House and Senate appropriations subcommittees alongside the fiscal year 2028 request.
That briefing must include full program details: planned quantities, long-term funding requirements, and schedules for both development and eventual production.
The House report shows frustration with what many see as endless bureaucratic flip-flopping from the Pentagon. Just last year, Air Force brass wanted to scrap the Wedgetail entirely, citing ballooning per-aircraft costs from $588 million to $724 million.
The plan was to rely on additional Hawkeyes and theoretical space-based sensors. Then came the war in Iran—an unmistakable reality check exposing serious gaps in America’s airborne command network.
Faced with coalition air coordination demands and depleted AWACS fleets, the Pentagon reversed course this spring, admitting that satellites can’t yet replace a capable airborne battle management system.
The committee’s renewed commitment shows that at least some in Congress recognize the danger of chasing fantasy tech at the expense of real, in-the-sky capability.
The House decision also sends a strong signal to America’s allies. The Wedgetail already serves with U.S. partners including Australia and the United Kingdom, both of whom have made major investments in the aircraft’s proven platform.
Bringing the U.S. version to life strengthens interoperability while reaffirming American air dominance at a time when adversaries are watching every move.
Meanwhile, the Navy’s E-2D Hawkeye program—spared from OMB’s knife—remains a critical component of carrier battle group defense and joint operations. Lawmakers reaffirmed its importance, stating that “more aircraft, not fewer, are necessary to support our warfighters now and in the future.”
That’s a direct rebuke to administration budget planners who continue to treat combat readiness like a spreadsheet exercise.
For now, the restored funding means both services will keep moving forward: the Navy maintaining its eyes in the sky, and the Air Force working to revive a long-delayed, desperately needed command and control aircraft.
It’s a solid win for readiness, common sense, and for maintaining America’s edge in an increasingly volatile world.
If the Pentagon follows through this time, the E-7 Wedgetail could enter U.S. service later this decade—potentially just in time to replace a fleet of aging AWACS aircraft that have been flying since the 1970s.
Until then, Congress remains watchful to ensure the War Department doesn’t try another budget sleight of hand to cover its own strategic whiplash.