The E-8A JSTARS were actually supposed to just be a test bed for the radar, due to the gulf war, they were pressed into service, and kept for awhile, war tends to do that to an otherwise slow rolling procurement.3rd that motion.. Those B-707 types require way too much fuel and manpower or should I say person power.
US Army already has private civ type CL-60 jets doing great snooping and US Navy has P-8A types while USAF short on manpower has to crew 18 people to get a 707 type snoop plane working.USAF taking way to long to get the E-7 type in service..
I like the old E-3 and E-8C types but it is time to move on.
I'm sure the wedgetail could be sped up even more with enough motivation (even now its pretty fast).
Thanks
Joel