AWACS tracker: E-3 Sentry and E-7 Wedgetail flying right now
AWACS aircraft are flying radar stations: an E-3 Sentry carries a 30-foot rotating radar dome on the back of a Boeing 707, and its successor, the E-7 Wedgetail, carries a fixed fin-shaped array on a 737. Both spend hours in slow orbits watching airspace, and their training flights are often visible on public trackers.
Government and military aircraft appear here only when they broadcast their position publicly over ADS-B. Many of their flights do not.
| Flight | Registration | Operator | Type | Altitude | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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E-3 Sentry and E-7 Wedgetail (AWACS) at a glance
- E-3 Sentry
- Based on the Boeing 707; first flew in 1975 and entered US Air Force service in 1977
- E-3 operators
- The US Air Force, NATO, France and Saudi Arabia; the UK retired its E-3Ds in 2021
- E-7 Wedgetail
- Based on the Boeing 737; in service with Australia since 2010, and with Turkey, South Korea and the UK
- What comes next
- In July 2026 NATO chose Saab's GlobalEye to replace its E-3As; the US Air Force's E-7 program was nearly canceled in 2025 and is funded again
What they do
An AWACS aircraft climbs to around 30,000 feet and flies a long oval track, which lets its radar see aircraft hundreds of miles away and far below the horizon of any ground station. The crew in the back directs fighters, tankers and other aircraft, which is why AWACS fly over every major exercise and most real operations.
The E-3's rotodome turns once every ten seconds in flight. NATO has flown its own E-3As from Geilenkirchen in Germany since 1982, with crews from across the alliance, and the US Air Force flies E-3Gs from Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma.
The replacements
The 707 airframes date from the 1970s and are increasingly hard to keep flying. The UK retired its E-3Ds in 2021 and is taking Wedgetails instead. NATO announced in July 2026 that eleven members will jointly buy Saab GlobalEyes to replace its E-3A fleet, which is due to be phased out by 2035.
The US Air Force's own E-7 purchase has had a rougher path: the Pentagon moved to cancel it in mid-2026 budget plans, Congress funded prototypes anyway, and in March 2026 the Air Force awarded Boeing about $2.4 billion to keep development going. Whether it leads to a production fleet is still undecided.
Questions
Why is an AWACS flying in circles?
The oval track keeps the radar over the same area for hours while the aircraft stays at a steady speed and altitude. The loops you see on the map are the job, not a problem.
What is the difference between the E-3 and the E-7?
The E-3 Sentry is a 1970s design on a Boeing 707 with a rotating radar dome. The E-7 Wedgetail is a Boeing 737 with a fixed electronically scanned radar in a fin on its back, which needs no rotation, a smaller crew and far less maintenance.
Why isn't an aircraft I know is flying on the map?
Positions come from volunteer ADS-B receivers, which only hear aircraft within roughly 200 nautical miles. Over oceans, deserts and parts of Africa and Asia there are few receivers, so an aircraft can vanish mid-flight and reappear near land. Military and some government aircraft also switch their transponders' public data off.
More live trackers
Positions from the adsb.lol volunteer ADS-B network (ODbL). Aircraft are shown only while a receiver can hear them.