NATO to buy 6 more ‘eyes in the sky’ planes to update its surveillance capability

BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO has opted to buy six new E-7A Wedgetail surveillance planes built by U.S. aircraft manufacturer Boeing as it looks to update its eyes in the sky in coming years. NATO’s fleet of 14 AWACS aircraft are outdated and expensive to maintain. But their large fuselage-mounted radar domes can detect aircraft hundreds of miles away and they remain useful to monitor Russia’s war on Ukraine, from NATO’s eastern flank. NATO said that production of the six new Wedgetails will begin “in coming years” and that the first planes are expected to be ready for duty by 2031.