RAF Wedgetails to be based at Lossiemouth

On 18 December 2020, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced that RAF Lossiemouth (UK) will be the new home of its upcoming Wedgetail AEW1 fleet.

This is a bit of a surprise, since the current airborne early warning platform (Sentry AEW1) and together with the majority of the RAF Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) fleet (RC-135W, Sentinel R1, Shadow R1/R2, Beech 300) is housed at RAF Waddington (UK). It was expected that the Wedgetails also would operate from this RAF station near Lincoln.

The Royal Air Force (RAF) however sees more benefits in housing these aircraft in the north of Scotland.

For logistical reasons it is more beneficial to co-locate both the Poseidon MRA1 and Wedgetail AEW1 at the same RAF station since they are both Boeing 737 derivatives. It will also ensure better utilisation of the recent investments at RAF Lossiemouth which totalled GBP 475 million. This included a GBP 100 million investment into a new maintenance and operations facility for the Poseidon, and a GBP 75 million runway upgrade.

Strategically, Lossie also has a benefit since it will reduce the time required for the aircraft to arrive on station to protect the area northeast of the United Kingdom.

The first RAF Wedgetail is expected to be delivered in 2023. The original plan called for a fleet of five aircraft, but recently it was reported that this number might be reduced to only three aircraft. No official comments from the MoD have been made about a potential reduction yet.

Image via Ministry of Defence