Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Military Aircraft Systems, Melbourne, Florida, is awarded a $353,584,118 fixed-price incentive (firm target) modification to a previously awarded contract. This modification provides for the production and delivery of three E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft for the government of France. Work is expected to be completed April 2027. Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $353,584,118 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The U.S. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
There are now 28 E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft that are able to leave the flight deck and provide forward American military presence in the form of All-Weather Airborne Early Warning, Command & Control, and Battlespace Management functions. In addition, training, flight certification and war fighter benefits were achieved. The most visible front-line actors were the maintainers and material suppliers, but integration efforts across the Naval Aviation Enterprise (NAE) were required to affect change on every aircraft.
France Navy is to order three Northrop Grumman E-2D Advanced Hawkeye airborne early-warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft in 2020. The French Navy had been closely following the introduction of the E-2D into US Navy service, with the type to be adopted to replace the three E-2C Hawkeyes serving with Flottille 4F Lann Bihoue Naval Air Base (Base Aéronavale de Lann Bihoué) near Lorient, in Brittany. The newer variant is fitted with an entirely new AN/APY-9 radar with combined electronic/mechanical-scanning capabilities, more powerful processors, and an improved man-machine interface with larger screens.
The E-2D Advanced Hawkeye is the U.S. Navy’s airborne early warning and command and control aircraft system. The carrier-based aircraft provides expanded battlespace awareness for carrier strike groups. Its two-generation leap in radar technology allows the E-2D to work with ship-, air- and land-based combat systems to track and defeat air, ship and cruise missiles at extended range. The aircraft can also be used in a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief capacity for civilian emergency coordination.
