Group Captain Layden’s March Off camp as RAF Lossiemouth Station Commander and welcoming of Group Captain Lee as new Station Commander.

The UK Royal Air Force (RAF) will build new purpose-built facilities to support the delivery of the E-7 Wedgetail Surveillance Aircraft at RAF Lossiemouth, Moray, Scotland. 

The RAF will house the new surveillance fleet at the Scottish base alongside the recently completed Atlantic Building, from which the UK’s nine Poseidon MRA Mk1 aircraft already operate.

UK Minister for Defence Procurement Alex Chalk said: “This is another significant investment for defence in Scotland, creating hundreds of jobs and bolstering the local economy. Scotland has a proud history as home to some of our most critical defence assets, and this investment will enable the new fleet of cutting-edge E-7 aircraft to support that vital capability.”

The Airborne Early Warning and Control platform will provide intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance for the RAF. 

The announcement that RAF Lossiemouth would host the delivery of the Wedgetail was made in December 2020. 

According to GlobalData’s “The Global Military Infrastructure and Logistics Market 2020-2030” report, many countries across the world, such as the US, the UK, India, Canada, and Germany, are currently in the process of overhauling their existing logistics capabilities with new logistic information systems and the integration of new tools into the process to increase the efficiency of the defence logistics across air, land, and sea. 

The UK military infrastructure and logistics market was valued at $2.2bn in 2020 and is anticipated to reach $2.7bn by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 2.20%. The cumulative market for military infrastructure and logistics in the UK is expected to amount to $ 20.1bn over the forecast period.

Source: GlobalData Intelligence

Capable of simultaneously tracking multiple airborne and maritime targets, the E-7 aircraft uses the information it gathers to improve situational awareness and direct assets such as fighter jets and warships.

Subcontracted under an £83m contract awarded to Boeing Defence UK (BDUK) by the UK Ministry of Defence, the investment will enable the build of a new training facility and a second unit the size of an Olympic swimming pool where combined Poseidon and Wedgetail engineering will be delivered by serving RAF personnel. 

In March, Boeing was awarded a $1.2bn contract to provide development activities for the Rapid Prototype Program for the United States Air Force’s E-7A aircraft fleet.