With the UAE’s airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) contest well underway, Northrop Grumman is pressing on with testing of its E-2D Advanced Hawkeye.
The first E-2D has now completed 17 sorties since its initial flight in August, with the first live radar tests on schedule for this month. The second aircraft is undergoing final ground tests before joining the flight test programme by the end of the year.
Work has also started on the pilot production batch of three E-2Ds. Initial operational capability of the type with the US Navy is scheduled for 2011.
The UAE requirement has drawn responses from several companies, including Northrop Grumman and Boeing, the latter with its 737-based AEW&C platform. Examples of both the 737 and the E-2C are in the static park. A decision on a winning design had been expected in mid-2007 but this has slipped.
In other export markets, Northrop Grumman “is very far along on the design of a wet wing”, intended for potential customers that want to operate the aircraft from shore bases, says Jerry Spruill, Northrop Grumman’s director, IPT Leader AEW international programs, at the show. This would give the aircraft an 8hr endurance compared to almost 6hr for the E-2C and around 5hr for the heavier E-2D.
In an indication of the seriousness with which it is approaching India’s requirement for an airborne early warning platform, Northrop Grumman International has just opened an office in New Delhi, headed by retired Commodore Gyanendra Sharma, whose central role will be to promote the Hawkeye to India.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian air force has moved to expand its AEW&C capabilities, with the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency having announced the receipt of a $75 million request to supply the service with a further two secondhand E-2C Hawkeyes.
To be acquired from surplus US Navy stocks, the aircraft would join Egypt’s current fleet of seven E-2Cs. These are an average of 20 years old, according to Flight’s MiliCAS database, which also lists an eighth example as parked. The refurbished Hawkeyes will be delivered with undisclosed modifications and two spare Rolls-Royce T56 turboprop engines under the deal, which has yet to be approved by US Congress.
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Source: Flight Daily News
