Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Aerospace Systems, Melbourne, Florida, is awarded $404,000,638 for a modification (P00013) to previously awarded, fixed-price-incentive-firm-target contract N00019-18-C-1037. This modification exercises contract options for non-recurring engineering and software support activities as well as product support for the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye (AHE) full rate production (FRP). In addition, this modification procures two U.S. Navy E-2D AHE aircraft, one each in FRP Lots 8 and 9. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
The Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye is an American all-weather, carrier-capable tactical airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft. This twin-turboprop aircraft was designed and developed during the late 1950s and early 1960s by the Grumman Aircraft Company for the United States Navy as a replacement for the earlier, piston-engined E-1 Tracer, which was rapidly becoming obsolete. The aircraft’s performance has been upgraded with the E-2B, and E-2C versions, where most of the changes were made to the radar and radio communications due to advances in electronic integrated circuits and other electronics. The fourth major version of the Hawkeye is the E-2D, which first flew in 2007.
The E-2D Advanced Hawkeye is a game changer in how the Navy will conduct battle management command and control. By serving as the “digital quarterback” to sweep ahead of strike, manage the mission, and keep our net-centric carrier battle groups out of harms way, the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye is the key to advancing the mission, no matter what it may be. The E-2D gives the warfighter expanded battlespace awareness, especially in the area of information operations delivering battle management, theater air and missile defense, and multiple sensor fusion capabilities in an airborne system.
With a two-generation leap in radar sensor capability and a robust network enabled capability, the Advanced Hawkeye will deliver critical, actionable data to joint forces and first responders. These advances provide warfighters with the necessary situational awareness to compress the time between initial awareness and active engagement. In August 2003, Northrop Grumman and Team Hawkeye committed to delivering Delta One, the first system development and demonstration (SD&D) aircraft and on August 3, 2007, it delivered on that promise conducting its successful first flight. Advanced Hawkeye is the cornerstone of the U.S. Navy’s theater air and missile defense architecture in the littorals, overland, and open sea.
