Senators press Air Force and Space Force on E‑7 cancellation and gaps until space‑based AMTI matures

Senators pressed the Department of the Air Force about the decision to terminate the E‑7 acquisition program in FY26 and about how the services will “stitch together” capabilities to avoid gaps in airborne moving target indication (AMTI) and command‑and‑control functions.

Gen. David Allen acknowledged the E‑7 would offer capabilities superior to the existing E‑3 Sentry but framed the program decision as part of risk tradeoffs across multiple domains and phenomenologies. Gen. Saltzman said government assessments and vendor data are promising for space‑based AMTI, but he agreed with other witnesses that delivering a fully operational capability was likely an early‑2030s proposition rather than a near‑term fix.

Senator Murray said she had not seen sufficient justification on the record for cancelling E‑7 and flagged the risk that the Navy's E‑2 platform and initial space assets might not fully replicate E‑7 capabilities in every mission set. Service witnesses said they will evaluate mitigation options and the timeliness of commercial and government space‑based data as they come online.

Nut graf: The committee pressed the services on whether canceling the E‑7 leaves unacceptable risk in airborne early warning and battle management; service leaders said they will work to mitigate gaps but warned space‑based AMTI and other technologies likely will not deliver the full replacement capability until the end of the decade or early 2030s.

Discussion vs. decisions: The exchange was a policy and risk discussion; no formal program re‑instatement or funding decisions were made on the record. Senators asked for more detailed risk analyses and timelines.

Ending: Senators asked the department to provide assessments that detail capability gaps, mitigation steps and timelines for when space‑based AMTI data will be operationally useful.