A Royal Australian Air Force E-7A Wedgetail airborne early warning and control platform has set a new record by flying a 17-hour operational mission over Iraq and Syria, Defence stated on November 11.
The senior surveillance and control officer explained that coalition demand for surveillance aircraft like the Wedgetail is substantial: “Even before the addition of Russian operations in Syria there was a lot happening in the region that we needed to survey.
This content is available exclusively to Australian Aviation members.
Login
Become a Member
To continue reading the rest of this article, please login.Forgot password?
To unlock all Australian Aviation magazine content and again unlimited access to our daily news and features, become a member today! A monthly membership is only $5.99 or save with our annual plans.
How effectively do aircrews function in the latter hours of a 17 hr mission? Are there additional operators with provision for real in-flight rest? The tendency for today’s military to call for more and more extended tours of duty by all combatants flies in the face of all human factors research. Being a fighter pilot being guided to the interception of a possibly hostile target by an operator who has been airborne 15 hours with the sort of rest breaks available on even the quietest of aircraft doesn’t sound good to me.
Mick181
says:
Sean It’s why the military demand a much higher level of physical fitness than is req in civilian life. The aircraft also i believe have a rest area on board. What makes great soldiers is the ability to be able to operate when tired and under great stress.
Harry
says:
I think we might need a few more of these excellent craft, than just six, going by how useful they are and how many missions they have flown thus far in their as yet short operational history.
Charles Falkiner
says:
Few more Wedgetails and Super Hornets with conformal tanks would be a much better bet than the vastly expensive F35
Daryl
says:
Some mates in the USAF (now retired) once flew a 31+ hour mission in one of their E4’s(747-200) It started out as a routine training gig,and gained momentum from there.I forget the exact details,but seem to remember those guys didn’t get deployment pay,as the flight was originally just a routine training flight around Nebraska.
Derrick
says:
What is the maintenance downtime for a 17 hour mission. It would take a massive toll on the aircraft to fly that many hours.
TimC69
says:
I think we might need a few more of these excellent craft, than just six, going by how useful they are and how many missions they have flown thus far in their as yet short operational history.
Couldnt agree more Harry.
add 2 more Wedgetails, 12 Poseidons, 7 Tritons and we’ll have a great survaillence capability we’ve never had before. With regards to rest time, a long time ago when i was in the army we did a 20 hour exercise finished of with a 30km forced march in under 5 hours.-in boots !
Jason
says:
The Wedgetail’s Okra missions usually have an augmented flight crew who can swap out during the mission.
There will be no more 737 Wedgetails built as the -700 is almost out of production, plus it is generally agreed that the Wedgetail and its Korean and Turkish equivalents should probably have been larger airframes from the start.
There is no reason there would be additional maintenance time needed after a 17 hour mission as opposed to a 7 hour mission. In fact, the more airplanes fly, the more they want to fly. It’s downtime that causes seals to dry up, fluids to leak etc.
John N
says:
If I remember correctly when the Government order the Wedgetails (as they were called then, and not E-7A’s), there was a firm order for four (4) and an option for three (3), of which eventually two of the options were exercised and we ended with a fleet of six.
But if memory serves me correctly (and it has been a long time), I was under the impression that a “7th MESA radar system” was also ordered and procured (originally intended for that possible last and 7th airframe).
If that last MESA was in fact ordered and acquired, then yes there is the possibility that an additional airframe (of the same configuration) could be procured, not 100% sure if this did or didn’t happen, or maybe if it did the 7th has become a ‘spare’ or may have even ended up being used in the Turkish or South Korean acquisitions.
Anyway, regardless of all that, the E-7A’s (after all the initial problems) have turned out to be an outstanding purchase for the RAAF and if additional airframes are to be procured at sometime in in the future, then possibly they might be based on the P8A airframe (-800 series rather than -700 series).
Time will tell, until then, great job being performed by the E-7A’s and their crews too!!!
Cheers,
John N
Mick181
says:
I doubt there will be any more, too much money req across the ADF. $100b worth of New Fighters, AFVs, Frigates & Subs to be paid for over the next 20-25 yrs
Also the ADF tend to only get enough to give us a baseline capability such as 72 F-35A, 6 E-7As, 7 CH-47Fs, 8-12 P-8As, 7 Tritons, 2 LHDs, 12 DD/FFs, 6 Subs, 59 Tanks, 225 ARVs, 450 IFVs This would not be enough in the case of a major shooting war.
1.7% of GDP only goes so far.
Adrian P
says:
Managing fatigue is a legitimate concern as there are still airliners operating over Iraq.
We should hope that preventing a shoot down of any of these aircraft is achievable through out a mission.
Certainly we would not want to be erroneously involved in a shoot down of a civil aircraft,
The aircraft has 6 or 8 big., comfortable leather chairs in the back (can’t remember if it was 1+2 per row or 2+2, sorry). The Wedgetails often carry the Prime Minister and/or Chief of Air Force on some flights (obviously when a full entourage isn’t required).
Between those chairs and the galley gear, the crew can get a reasonable level of rest.
As to 17 hours in the air: long haul airliners and biz jets get up to 14 to 20 hour flights without requiring significant maintenance (typically a 1 hour turn around depending on scheduling). Given the E7A is a 737 I’m reasonably sure it probably didn’t need a lot of servicing on airframe, engines, etc.
Now, the radar may be a whole different issue re: maintenance time per flight hour. I’m not familiar with its servicing demands 🙂
Jason
says:
Tony Moclair may be able to elaborate due to his recent (excellent) article, but I think the crew rest is 6-8 older style nearly lie-flat biz class seats in 3-4 rows of two each in the rear starboard cabin only.
The Wedgetails will typically carry two flight crews who can either augment each other in busy situations such as A2A refueling, or can rest and swap out every 4/6 hours on the longer hops.
Sean Kinsella
says:How effectively do aircrews function in the latter hours of a 17 hr mission? Are there additional operators with provision for real in-flight rest? The tendency for today’s military to call for more and more extended tours of duty by all combatants flies in the face of all human factors research. Being a fighter pilot being guided to the interception of a possibly hostile target by an operator who has been airborne 15 hours with the sort of rest breaks available on even the quietest of aircraft doesn’t sound good to me.
Mick181
says:Sean It’s why the military demand a much higher level of physical fitness than is req in civilian life. The aircraft also i believe have a rest area on board. What makes great soldiers is the ability to be able to operate when tired and under great stress.
Harry
says:I think we might need a few more of these excellent craft, than just six, going by how useful they are and how many missions they have flown thus far in their as yet short operational history.
Charles Falkiner
says:Few more Wedgetails and Super Hornets with conformal tanks would be a much better bet than the vastly expensive F35
Daryl
says:Some mates in the USAF (now retired) once flew a 31+ hour mission in one of their E4’s(747-200) It started out as a routine training gig,and gained momentum from there.I forget the exact details,but seem to remember those guys didn’t get deployment pay,as the flight was originally just a routine training flight around Nebraska.
Derrick
says:What is the maintenance downtime for a 17 hour mission. It would take a massive toll on the aircraft to fly that many hours.
TimC69
says:I think we might need a few more of these excellent craft, than just six, going by how useful they are and how many missions they have flown thus far in their as yet short operational history.
Couldnt agree more Harry.
add 2 more Wedgetails, 12 Poseidons, 7 Tritons and we’ll have a great survaillence capability we’ve never had before. With regards to rest time, a long time ago when i was in the army we did a 20 hour exercise finished of with a 30km forced march in under 5 hours.-in boots !
Jason
says:The Wedgetail’s Okra missions usually have an augmented flight crew who can swap out during the mission.
There will be no more 737 Wedgetails built as the -700 is almost out of production, plus it is generally agreed that the Wedgetail and its Korean and Turkish equivalents should probably have been larger airframes from the start.
There is no reason there would be additional maintenance time needed after a 17 hour mission as opposed to a 7 hour mission. In fact, the more airplanes fly, the more they want to fly. It’s downtime that causes seals to dry up, fluids to leak etc.
John N
says:If I remember correctly when the Government order the Wedgetails (as they were called then, and not E-7A’s), there was a firm order for four (4) and an option for three (3), of which eventually two of the options were exercised and we ended with a fleet of six.
But if memory serves me correctly (and it has been a long time), I was under the impression that a “7th MESA radar system” was also ordered and procured (originally intended for that possible last and 7th airframe).
If that last MESA was in fact ordered and acquired, then yes there is the possibility that an additional airframe (of the same configuration) could be procured, not 100% sure if this did or didn’t happen, or maybe if it did the 7th has become a ‘spare’ or may have even ended up being used in the Turkish or South Korean acquisitions.
Anyway, regardless of all that, the E-7A’s (after all the initial problems) have turned out to be an outstanding purchase for the RAAF and if additional airframes are to be procured at sometime in in the future, then possibly they might be based on the P8A airframe (-800 series rather than -700 series).
Time will tell, until then, great job being performed by the E-7A’s and their crews too!!!
Cheers,
John N
Mick181
says:I doubt there will be any more, too much money req across the ADF. $100b worth of New Fighters, AFVs, Frigates & Subs to be paid for over the next 20-25 yrs
Also the ADF tend to only get enough to give us a baseline capability such as 72 F-35A, 6 E-7As, 7 CH-47Fs, 8-12 P-8As, 7 Tritons, 2 LHDs, 12 DD/FFs, 6 Subs, 59 Tanks, 225 ARVs, 450 IFVs This would not be enough in the case of a major shooting war.
1.7% of GDP only goes so far.
Adrian P
says:Managing fatigue is a legitimate concern as there are still airliners operating over Iraq.
We should hope that preventing a shoot down of any of these aircraft is achievable through out a mission.
Certainly we would not want to be erroneously involved in a shoot down of a civil aircraft,
Grant McHerron
says:The aircraft has 6 or 8 big., comfortable leather chairs in the back (can’t remember if it was 1+2 per row or 2+2, sorry). The Wedgetails often carry the Prime Minister and/or Chief of Air Force on some flights (obviously when a full entourage isn’t required).
Between those chairs and the galley gear, the crew can get a reasonable level of rest.
As to 17 hours in the air: long haul airliners and biz jets get up to 14 to 20 hour flights without requiring significant maintenance (typically a 1 hour turn around depending on scheduling). Given the E7A is a 737 I’m reasonably sure it probably didn’t need a lot of servicing on airframe, engines, etc.
Now, the radar may be a whole different issue re: maintenance time per flight hour. I’m not familiar with its servicing demands 🙂
Jason
says:Tony Moclair may be able to elaborate due to his recent (excellent) article, but I think the crew rest is 6-8 older style nearly lie-flat biz class seats in 3-4 rows of two each in the rear starboard cabin only.
The Wedgetails will typically carry two flight crews who can either augment each other in busy situations such as A2A refueling, or can rest and swap out every 4/6 hours on the longer hops.