Australia is deploying an airborne early warning and control aircraft to Europe in support of Ukraine.

The Australian Defence Force will deploy an E-7A Wedgetail reconnaissance aircraft in Germany.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that this was necessary to secure the supply of military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.

To be deployed in October 2023, the mission will be in place for approximately 6 months. It is planned to attract about 100 crew members and support personnel.

“The aircraft will provide an early warning of any threats outside of Ukraine against the gateway of humanitarian and military assistance,” he said.

The aircraft will operate outside the airspace of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.

“The deployment of the Australian E-7A Wedgetail is another demonstration of our support for Ukraine,” Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said.

The E-7A Wedgetail reconnaissance aircraft is equipped with long-range surveillance radar, secondary radar and tactical communication and data transmission systems to provide early air warning and control.

It is based on the Boeing 737 Next Generation passenger aircraft.

The aircraft has a fixed active electronically scanned array radar antenna instead of a classic rotating one.

First of all, it was designed for the Air Forces of Australia within the framework of the Wedgetail project and was designated as E-7A Wedgetail. Later, Boeing E-7A chose the Turkish Air Force as the AEW&C aircraft – under the E-7T designation. As well as the Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom – under the Wedgetail AEW1 index.

As previously reported, in 2022, a couple of RC-135W and E-8C reconnaissance aircraft of the U.S. Air Forces simultaneously conducted reconnaissance missions over Ukraine. At the end of 2021, RC-135 and E-8 reconnaissance aircrafts of the British and U.S. Air Forces also simultaneously crossed Ukrainian airspace and conducted reconnaissance missions.