Keeping The E-2D Advanced Hawkeye On Top Into the 2040s
The E-2’s into its sixth decade in the air and has never been more potent. Here’s how the Navy and Northrop Grumman plan to keep it that way
BY
HOWARD ALTMAN
AUG 5, 2022 3:20 PM
Keeping The E-2D Advanced Hawkeye On Top Into the 2040s
On a sweltering August afternoon, as the E-2D-equipped Reagan Carrier Strike Group plowed the waters not far from Taiwan while the Chinese military threatened aggressive action toward the breakaway republic, workers at Northrop Grumman’s St. Augustine Manufacturing Center, or SAMC, were busy adding mid-air refueling capabilities and several other modifications to two similar E-2D Advanced Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft.
They are the latest of several current and planned updates designed to elevate the potency of the latest version of the iconic twin-engined turboprop with a saucer-like radar dome and four-finned tail that first took flight 15 years ago. The original design that would become the E-2A first flew nearly 62 years ago. These enhancements also come as the audiences around the globe saw the Hawkeye in action Hollywood style via its cameo appearance in the hugely successful Top Gun: Maverick.
For the Navy, constant updating of the E-2D - currently patrolling the skies over Europe and in the Pacific and set to fly into the 2040s - is critical given what the ungainly-looking aircraft brings to the table. It is the carrier strike group's eyes in the sky, surveilling huge areas of air and sea, directing fighter aircraft on their missions, and working as an airborne networking node that is capable of exchanging vast amounts of data between aircraft, warships, and more. It is the definition of a high-value, low-density, force-multiplying asset and it has never been more important than it is today.
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/keeping-the-e-2d-advanced-hawkeye-on-top-into-the-2040s
