A comprehensive airworthiness flight test program is well underway and on schedule for the first 737 Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft for Australia's Project Wedgetail.

Air Vice Marshal Norm Gray, head of Australia's Airborne Surveillance and Control Division, said Wedgetail will be an invaluable asset in enhancing his country's intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance picture.

“Wedgetail will make a major contribution to our air combat capability,” Gray said. “The system will significantly improve command and control and the capacity for air defense of surface ships. It also will enhance Australia's strike capability.”

Earlier this year Australia exercised options to buy two additional 737-700 aircraft boosting the number in its fleet to six. Delivery of the first two aircraft is scheduled for 2006. The rest will be delivered by 2008.

At Edwards Air Force Base in California this past summer, the aircraft achieved a major success while being put through its paces with simulated air-to-air refueling with KC-10 and KC-135 tankers and takeoff performance handling assessments at various weights and flight profiles. According to the test pilots the 737-AEW&C was stable with excellent flying qualities and engine response behind both the KC-10 and KC-135.

“This milestone validates our wind tunnel and simulator analyses and is a major step on the way toward providing this powerful capability to Australia,” said Patrick Gill, Boeing. “It also demonstrates what can be accomplished with outstanding teamwork between the Integrated Defense Systems and Boeing Commercial Aircraft.”

Additionally, the engine cowl (nacelle) and engine component cooling test evaluated the cooling characteristics of the engine during extremely hot conditions in Mesa, Ariz., where temperatures exceeded 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The engine met all performance requirements.

Gill says he’s not surprised the plane is doing so well. Transforming the green 737 aircraft into an airborne early warning and command and control platform was possible through state-of-the-art digital design and manufacturing.

“With our digital design, the parts go together the right way, the first time,” he said. For example, pilot holes drilled from two different manufacturers at two different locations fit perfectly.

“Not only are we ahead of schedule and within our target labor hours, but the quality of work is excellent,” Gill said. He complimented the “commitment, hard work and dedication of our employees, our customer, our suppliers and our industry partners.”

Mark Rosenberger, 737 AEW&C aircraft manager, had additional praise for employees on the Wedgetail program. “Over the past years, all of them have had at least one sleepless night thinking about an item they were working on," he said. “They've all had late dinners, missed a few school plays or Little League games, spent many late nights and weekends here at work, and the list goes on. So, when the aircraft rolled by the hangar on May 20 and those hairs on the back of their necks stood up, that was the soul of the aircraft saying, ‘thank you.’ ”

Other extensive systems installations and modifications for the Wedgetail aircraft included new power and cooling systems, mission consoles and modifications to the environmental control and hydraulic systems. Hundreds of miles of wire were installed, and the generating capacity to run the mission systems and radar equal that of a Boeing 777-300.