Life after the Boeing E-D Sentry

[McColm]

The first flight of the British Boeing E-3D Sentry AEW.Mk 1 took place on 5th January 1990. Originally six were purchased and later purchased a seventh. Various updates have maintained the fleet but by 2014 this had decreased to five.
Whether the British stick with buying the Boeing 737 series of aircraft in the form of the E-7 Wedgetail or goes for something homegrown only time will tell.
There still seems to be four ways to carry the radar;
The Gulfsteam G550 CAEW, power plant two Rolls-Royce BR710-48 turbofans, the radar system is mounted in the nose and tail radomes with fuselage cheek conformal panels.
Saab 340 , 2 turboprop engines and the dorsal Erieye antenna pod.
Rotating circular radome, either turbofans or turboprop engines.
Or the E-7 Wedgetail.
The platforms for these radar combinations are a Whiffers' paradise as more 1/144 airliner kits become available.

[McColm]

Rumors are speculating that the British will go with the Boeing E-7A Wedgetail although the European alternative has been proposed that Airbus and SaaB join forces.
Personally as a pure whiff I've always fancied the Airbus A400M with the Erieye system or the Boeing C-17 .
The Japanese P-1 might also be a suitable platform or the Boeing 767/ Airbus equal.
I was also hopping that the Airbus A340 might be another contender.
No doubt Lockheed will tout the
C-130-J and the P-3AEW as cheaper alternatives.
I know the BAe-146 could have made it or the Be-200.
It's a Whifflers paradise adding the Grumman E-2 Hawkeye rotodome to whatever aircraft takes your fancy.

[Gondor]

Your forgetting the system type that the Israeli's use with cheek or side radar such as here

Gondor

[McColm]

Your forgetting the system type that the Israeli's use with cheek or side radar such as here

Gondor

I did mention that system in the description of the G550.
I forgot the FASS fore and aft cone system favoured by the BAe Nimrod AEW. 3

[Vlamgat]

I think selection of the Wedgetail is pretty much a foregone conclusion.

[AS.12]

I think selection of the Wedgetail is pretty much a foregone conclusion.

Sadly so, it is off-the-shelf and American. 

I think to have a 'native' or Euro-alternative AWACS we'd need a point-of-divergence such as:

1. Nimrod AEW entered service
or
2. RAF took better care of their Sentry fleet and had an OOS date in the mid-2030s, like the NATO fleet

If the latter then I might expect a more advanced platform, perhaps some common European tanker / ISAR aircraft.

[PR19_Kit]

Sadly so, it is off-the-shelf and American. 

Amen to that, I'm getting more than a bit fed up with this sort of scenario. 

[McColm]

What happened to the good old days when the choice was; British, European, American, Russian and the rest of the world?
So was the last turboprop aircraft the Jetstream or APT?
BAe Hawk and BAe-146 for turbofan and turbojet.
And the last all British helicopter must be the Lynx?