The Senate Defense Appropriations Bill provides $1.4 billion for the F/A-XX and $647 million for the Wedgetail.
The Senate Appropriations Committee has approved a draft defense spending bill that revives the US Navy’s F/A-XX sixth-generation fighter and the Air Force’s E-7 Wedgetail early warning aircraft. The Pentagon’s recent 2026 budget proposal had not funded procurement of the F/A-XX and cancelled the E-7. The Senate Defense Appropriations Bill, which now moves to the Senate floor, provides $1.4 billion for the F/A-XX and $647 million for the Wedgetail.
F/A-XX Funding Priorities
The Pentagon’s proposed budget did not kill the F/A-XX but only provided funding to complete initial development work without procuring any aircraft. This decision was reportedly taken to avoid competition for resources between the F/A-XX and the Air Force’s sixth-generation F-47 program. The Pentagon believes that the American defense industrial base cannot support simultaneous work on both platforms. Boeing, which holds the F-47 contract and is contending with Northrop Grumman for the F/A-XX, disputes that assertion.
The Navy, along with the other services, is required to submit an annual Unfunded Priority List to Congress. That list included $1.4 billion for the F/A-XX, which the Senate committee approved exactly.
Admiral Daryl Caudle, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the next chief of naval operations, came out unequivocally in support of the F/A-XX as part of his confirmation process. In answer to a policy question ahead of his July 24 confirmation hearing, Caudle wrote that the Navy’s carrier air wings must have the most advanced strike fighters available to maintain air superiority over the sixth-generation aircraft, “the threat” that is already flying.
He pointed out that delaying or cancelling the F/A-XX will require the Navy to retrofit fourth-generation aircraft like the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and E/A-18 Growler and increase fifth-generation aircraft procurement. Such a strategy would degrade America’s ability to project power via its nuclear carrier strike groups.
The Navy said in April that the F/A-XX is expected to increase the range of current strike aircraft by some 25 percent, while incorporating stealth and AI technology. The range component is ever-more important as the Indo-Pacific region becomes the Navy’s primary focus. That theater’s vast distances, coupled with China’s long-range missile capability, demand optimal range performance from strike aircraft.
E-7 Wedgetail Disputes
The Air Force’s E-7 program has been equally contentious. Designed to replace the dangerously obsolete S-3 Sentry, the Wedgetail itself is seen as an expensive stopgap measure by the Pentagon, which wants to move forward to space-based detection, tracking, and control platforms.
Space-based options, however, are not expected to deploy until 2030 at the earliest. The Pentagon wants to fill that gap with the less expensive, and already operational, E-2D Hawkeye early warning and control aircraft used by the Navy.
Alaska senator Lisa Murkowski questioned Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on the E-7’s cancellation, citing her state’s regular encounters with Russian, and even Chinese, aircraft. Murkowski noted the E-3’s significant challenges, which range from an obsolete airframe and electronics suite to low serviceability and availability rates.
Hegseth responded that canceling the E-7 was a difficult choice that had to be made, saying that the E-7 is “sort of late, more expensive, and ‘gold-plated.’” He further stated that the Wedgetail is “not survivable in the modern battlefield,” and that robustly funding and modernizing existing platforms like the E-2D is a better option than further developing the E-7.
Support for the E-7, however, came from another source when a group of 19 retired Air Force generals, including six former chiefs of staff, signed an open letter expressing their “alarm” at the Wedgetail’s cancellation. Those officers also opposed the reduced procurement of F-35 fighters, which the Pentagon’s proposed budget slashed from 72 to 24. The Senate committee did not restore F-35 funding, perhaps in light of delayed Block 4 upgrades.
If the Senate Appropriations Bill passes on the floor, it will still have to go through review and passage by the House of Representatives.
About the Author: William Lawson
William Lawson is a military historian focusing on World War II and 20th century conflicts and the American Civil War. His specialty is operational level warfare, especially American amphibious doctrine. He writes on history, politics, and firearms for multiple publications and historical journals. He serves on the editorial advisory board for the Saber & Scroll Journal and Military History Chronicles and is a member of the Society for Military History and the American Historical Association. Lawson is based in Virginia.
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