The US Navy Northrop Grumman E-2D Advanced Hawkeye programme is taking steps to prevent a repeat of major budget cuts imposed last year by the US Congress, and perhaps to reverse them.
Last October, Congressional appropriators decided to slash one aircraft each from the fiscal year 2009 and 2010 budgets, citing problems with developing the E-2D's new phased-array radar.
Those concerns appear to have evaporated since the funding cut, and programme officials contend the actual problems were never serious. In recent weeks, several legislators have joined an effort to overturn those cuts.
Representative John Murtha, a powerful member of the appropriations committee, expressed his support last month for restoring the one aircraft cut from the FY2009 budget in a forthcoming supplement bill for war spending.
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If restored, that one aircraft would represent one-third of next year's planned production output at Northrop's factory in St. Augustine, Florida. Its loss, however, would force the USN to delay the initial operational capability data by at least 12 months and increase costs by 20% per aircraft.
Representative Corrine Brown, of nearby Jacksonville, has taken the unusual step of requesting an earmark supporting the president's FY2010 budget request for the E-2D. Earmarks are usually requested to add funding to the budget, but Brown's request might help protect the E-2D from further cuts.
The E-2D programme has been in flight-testing for nearly two years, with 950h completed so far, including 600h of missions systems testing, says Capt Shane Gahagan, USN programme manager.
In April last year, the programme found that the radar system was overheating, which was resolved mainly by installing a cold plate behind the charred component. The problem was corrected by July, Gahagan says.
"They were relatively minor issues compared with the size of the development programme," says Jim Culmo, Northrop's vice-president of airborne early warning and battle management command and control programmes. "In the springtime or in the fall everybody agreed that those were behind us."
The USN plans to buy 70 E-2Ds to replace E-2Cs as they are phased out. The E-2D is upgraded with a new rotodome and phased array radar that can track smaller targets in more cluttered environments, such as littoral and land areas.
Source: Flight International
