![](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,<svg height="577px" width="1024px" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" version="1.1"/>)
![](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,<svg height="620px" width="1470px" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" version="1.1"/>)
Australia will receive its long-delayed electronic warfare (EW) and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft from L3Harris this year.
L3Harris ISR President Jason Lambert confirmed the delivery of the first of four MC-55A “Peregrine” aircraft in 2025 after achieving a US Federal Aviation Administration certification in late 2024, around a two-year delay from the original timeline of 2023 under a 2019 foreign military sales deal.
Meanwhile, Head of Air Force Capability Air Vice-Marshal Nicholas Hogan said that the aircraft is expected within the next 12 months.
In preparation for the aircraft, the country built related facilities and trained its crew so they can conduct operational tests and evaluations once the Peregrine arrives, said Hogan.
Canberra’s National Audit Office’s 2023 to 2024 report attributed the program’s delays to “significant engineering, integration and flight test activities (that have) yet to be completed.”
However, Lambert pointed to “flight parameters and characteristics, along with the flight computer associated with the changing of the outer moldline shape” as causing the aircraft’s development to be behind schedule.
Australia is the first export customer for the MC-55A, with another unnamed country lined up to acquire a similar platform, Lambert added.
MC-55A Peregrine
The Royal Australian Air Force ordered four modified Gulfstream G550 aircraft in support of Air 555 Phase I, an initiative to strengthen the country’s airborne EW and ISR capabilities.
The Peregrine is planned to be integrated into Australia’s “joint warfighting networks, providing a critical link between platforms, including the F-35A Joint Strike Fighter, E-7A Wedgetail, EA-18G Growler, navy surface combatants and amphibious assault ships and ground assets to support the warfighter,” according to L3Harris.
It is reportedly planned to be based at the RAAF Base Edinburgh in South Australia, where the country’s P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, which works with the MQ-4C Triton drone, is stationed.
