Wedgetail initial delivery

The RAAF took ‘initial delivery’ of two Boeing Wedgetail AEW&C aircraft at a ceremony at RAAF Williamtown on November 26.
The ceremony was attended by Chief of Air Force AIRMSHL Mark Binskin; the DMO’s AEW&C program manager, AVM Chris Deeble; Boeing’s AEW&C program vice president Maureen Doherty; AIRCDRE Jim Brown, the Commander of the RAAF’s Surveillance Reconnaissance Group (SRG); local politicians; members of 42WG and 2SQN, and the official party was welcomed and hosted by 2SQN’s commanding officer, WGCDR Luke Stoodley.

The two aircraft arrived in Australia in mid November and, after spending a few days at Boeing’s Amberley facility, were to have been handed over on November 24. But an eleventh hour hold up which has been attributed to last minute contractural and Intellectual Property (IP) issues between Boeing and the Commonwealth saw this pushed back a few days.