Like the E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft, the E-6 is adapted from Boeing's 707-320 airliner. Rolled out at Boeing's Renton Factory on 18 December 1986, the first E-6 made its maiden flight on 19 February 1987, when it was flown to nearby Boeing Field in south Seattle for fitting of mission avionics; it was delivered to the Navy for testing on .
