With China's early warning aircraft technology leading that of the United States by two generations, and with the emergence of the KJ-3000 and KJ-700, the U.S. Air Force has faced a major setback. According to the American publication "Aviation Week," the U.S. Department of Defense is considering canceling the E-7A "Wedgetail" early warning aircraft program, and plans to replace its functions with satellites. If this decision is made, the E-7A, which has cost over ten billion dollars and taken years of development, will be scrapped, and the U.S. Air Force will lose a critical platform to replace the aging E-3 "Sentry." This could put the U.S. Air Force at a disadvantage in future anti-space warfare and make it difficult to respond to the technological challenges posed by the Chinese Air Force. Here is a common sense: Satellites are limited by their overhead time, and their current situational awareness capabilities cannot possibly replace the core position of early warning aircraft in air combat.

The E-7A is the U.S. Air Force's new generation of airborne command and control platform, aimed at replacing the E-3 early warning aircraft, which was commissioned in 1977. The E-3 relies on mechanical scanning radar, with short detection range, weak multi-target processing capability, and poor anti-jamming ability, and has long been unsuitable for modern air combat needs. The E-7A is based on the Boeing 737 platform and is equipped with a multi-beam active phased array radar developed by Northrop Grumman, which has a 360-degree non-mechanical rotation detection capability. Theoretically, it can detect targets with a radar cross-section of 1 square meter up to 600 kilometers, far exceeding the E-3's 400 kilometers.

The E-7A's radar can track 500 to 600 targets simultaneously and handle attack guidance tasks for 100 fighter jets. Its synthetic aperture radar has a resolution of 1 meter, allowing clear identification of ships and vehicles. Through the Link-16 data link, the E-7A can share battlefield intelligence in real-time with the F-35, F-22, and future F-47, integrating land, sea, air, space, and network domain operations, becoming a key node in the U.S. military command system. In comparison, the E-2D "Advanced Hawkeye" is limited by its platform, with radar power and detection range being only half of that of the E-7A, although its multi-target processing capability is stronger.

The E-7A originated from the E-7 "Wedgetail" developed for Australia more than 20 years ago. In 2022, the U.S. Air Force launched the E-7A project based on this, planning to purchase 26 aircraft to replace 31 E-3s, with a total cost of nearly 30 billion dollars. However, the single aircraft price of 11 billion dollars is four times higher than that of the E-3, becoming a focal point of controversy. The U.S. House Appropriations Committee believes that the E-7A is not only expensive but also vulnerable in high-intensity wars, easily destroyed by long-range air-to-air missiles, and once lost, it could lead to a collapse of the command system.

A deeper issue lies in the feasibility of the alternative solutions. The Department of Defense is considering using satellites or long-endurance drones to replace the E-7A's situational awareness function. Musk's Starlink provides an existing wide-area surveillance capability, with costs much lower than those of the E-7A. Another option is to upgrade the active phased array radar of the E-7A directly to the E-3 platform, reducing replacement costs. However, satellites and drones are difficult to fully replace the command functions of the E-7A, especially in high-dynamic air combat, where real-time coordination capabilities are irreplaceable.

The survival of the E-7A also faces supply chain constraints. Its active phased array radar depends on rare earth elements, and China's control over rare earth and gallium resources has put the U.S. defense industry in a dilemma. High prices and unstable supply of rare earth materials not only affect the E-7A but also impact the entire U.S. defense industry.

Despite this, the possibility of the E-7A being canceled is low. Former Secretary of Defense Austin once called it "a key asset against China." In the Western Pacific, facing advanced equipment such as the Chinese J-20 and PL-15, the E-7A's ultra-long-range detection and multi-domain command capabilities are crucial. Recently, the Pakistan Air Force's J-10C used the PL-15E to shoot down an Indian Rafale at 181 kilometers, highlighting the trend of long-range air combat. At 181 kilometers, due to outdated radar and inefficient voice coordination, the Indian Air Force failed to fire a single missile during the "May 7 India-Pakistan Air Combat." The advanced radar and data link of the E-7A can prevent such a disaster.

To reduce costs, the Air Force can reduce the order to 12-15 aircraft and gradually resolve the issues. However, completely canceling the E-7A may lead to abandoning the aerial superiority in the Pacific region, while China's technological progress requires strong early warning and control capabilities. Can the United States catch up with China's significant advantage in early warning aircraft? I think it's impossible, because they haven't even clarified another more important reason: the design of the E-7A itself has a major flaw. The radar detection blind spot in its balanced mast scheme will cause very serious problems under today's air combat scenarios.



Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7521545241808126500/

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