A Royal Australian Air Force E-7A Wedgetail arrives at the Australian Defence Force's main operating base in the Middle East region for Operation Okra missions. Photo by Corporal Dan Pinhorn.

Wedgetail back in the Middle East

15/09/2019 Posted by Brian Hartigan 2520 Views 0 Comments

As part of Australia’s contribution to the US-led Global Coalition against Daesh, a Royal Australian Air Force E-7A Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft has arrived in the Middle East.

CAPTION: A Royal Australian Air Force E-7A Wedgetail arrives at the Australian Defence Force’s main operating base in the Middle East region for Operation Okra missions. Photo by Corporal Dan Pinhorn.

Minister for Defence Linda Reynolds said the deployment of the E7-A would support the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) in their ongoing fight against terrorism in Iraq.

“The ISF is leading operations to prevent the re-emergence of Daesh in Iraq and in repelling incursions by Daesh into Iraq’s sovereign territory,” Minister Reynolds said.

“Australia has made a significant and continuous contribution to the Global Coalition against Daesh in Iraq and Syria and continues to provide support to Iraq to ensure progress is sustained.”

The aircraft has been deployed to the Air Task Group several times since October 2014.

The E-7A Wedgetail is an airborne early warning and control platform that can gather information from a wide variety of sources, analyse it and communicate this information to friendly air and surface assets.

The E-7A will join the Australian KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker Transport aircraft, currently providing air-to-air refuelling capability to a variety of coalition aircraft supporting operations in Iraq and Syria as part of the ADF’s Operation Okra.

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