diff --git a/default-package-config.sh b/default-package-config.sh
index 85759e6..86e2de5 100644
--- a/default-package-config.sh
+++ b/default-package-config.sh
@@ -327,13 +327,17 @@ function kernel_update_upstream() {
 	# latest upstream tag to sync based on the kernel
 	# version and the ABI num that we got above.
 	#
-	# Note that "generic" (used mainly ESX) is a special
-	# case on bionic where we are using the HWE kernel image.
+	# Note that "generic" (used mainly ESX) carries no flavour
+	# segment in its tag name, since it is the suite's own
+	# kernel; e.g. 'Ubuntu-7.0.0-29.29'. An 'Ubuntu-hwe-*' tag
+	# only exists in the tree of the release receiving a
+	# backport, and never for that release's own GA kernel, so
+	# it does not apply while we track the GA kernel.
 	#
 	local tag_prefix_flavour
 	case "${platform}" in
 	generic)
-		tag_prefix_flavour="Ubuntu-hwe"
+		tag_prefix_flavour="Ubuntu"
 		;;
 	aws | azure | gcp | oracle)
 		tag_prefix_flavour="Ubuntu-${platform}"
diff --git a/lib/common.sh b/lib/common.sh
index bb425d3..2f695d6 100644
--- a/lib/common.sh
+++ b/lib/common.sh
@@ -1253,17 +1253,16 @@ function get_kernel_version_for_platform_from_apt() {
 	# for kernel version '4.15.0-1027-aws'. We use this dependency to figure
 	# out the default kernel version for a given platform.
 	#
-	# The "generic" platform is a special case, since we want to use the
-	# hwe kernel image instead of the regular generic image.
+	# Every platform, "generic" included, tracks the GA kernel of the suite
+	# we are building for, rather than that suite's hwe image. At a fresh
+	# LTS the two resolve to the same kernel anyway, and the hwe git tags
+	# that update_upstream() needs do not exist in the new suite's tree
+	# yet; see TOOL-30798.
 	#
 	# Note that while the default kernel is usually also the latest
 	# available, it is not always the case.
 	#
-	if [[ "$platform" == generic ]]; then
-		package="linux-image-${platform}-hwe-26.04"
-	else
-		package="linux-image-${platform}"
-	fi
+	package="linux-image-${platform}"
 
 	if [[ "$(apt-cache show --no-all-versions "$package" \
 		2>/dev/null | grep Depends)" =~ linux-image-([^,]*-${platform}) ]]; then