The UK has received 556 tonnes (612 tons) of steel from local industry partners to support the ongoing construction of E-7 Wedgetail facilities in Lossiemouth, Scotland.
The handover is part of an 83 million pound ($103 million) project signed with Boeing in 2023 to build a new center that will house the Royal Air Force’s forthcoming E-7 fleet.
Under the Wedgetail hub’s development, Boeing teams with Northern Ireland-based McLaughlin & Harvey for the technical infrastructure works and Scottish firm Simmers Contracts for the associated supply materials.
The British government received 7,000-square-meter (75,000-square-foot) cladding for the E-7 maintenance and mission systems training buildings in addition to the recent steel delivery.
McLaughlin & Harvey wrote that the 100-million-pound ($124 million) mission systems training center is now being completed and will be located adjacent to the Lossiemouth’s existing P-8A Poseidon hangar.
The overall E-7 infrastructure program will conclude in early 2025, the government wrote.
“Boeing leverages the strength of its local supply chain to support the communities where we are proud to live and work,” Boeing Defence UK Managing Director Steve Burnell stated.
“Through our relationship with Mclaughlin & Harvey, we are pleased to have Simmers Contracts play a pivotal role in the construction of the new facilities for the UK’s E-7 Wedgetail aircraft, as we continue to work with the RAF to prepare the fleet’s entry into service.”
The E-7 Wedgetail
Boeing was awarded the order for the Wedgetail early warning and control aircraft in 2019. It will replace the Royal Air Force’s E-3 Sentry spy planes, which have been in service since the 1990s.
The E-7 Wedgetail measures 33.6 meters (110 feet) and has a wingspan of 35.6 meters (117 feet).
It is powered by two turbofans for a maximum speed of 853 kilometers (530 miles) per hour and a range of more than 6,000 kilometers (3,728 miles).
It is operated by two pilots and can carry up to 10 mission personnel.
In 2022, the first British Wedgetail under development received a multi-role electronically scanned array sensor, which will function as the aircraft’s primary surveillance solution.
