Northrop Grumman's E-2C Hawkeye is to continue with its sales offensive in southern Europe in spite of the company's link-up with Lockheed Martin, announced this week at Farnborough, to market alternative airborne early warning (AEW) platforms.
"The Hawkeye is going to Madrid, Ankara and Athens after Farnborough," says Robert Schwarz, vice-president and AEW programme manager.
Northrop Grumman is keen to stress that the veteran Hawkeye will be flying into the future.
"Many countries in southern Europe feel that even though they have a stake in the joint Nato AWACS programme, they need their own aircraft. Hawkeye is a low-cost solution for them.
"Those governments will be evaluating the Group 2 Hawkeye in their environments," says Schwarz.
"We are demonstrating the Hawkeye but they can have the AEW system on any platform," says George Gilmartin, Northrop Grumman's AEW international programmes director. "After our agreement with Lockheed Martin, each country can develop their own requirement." Other countries that continue to show an interest in Northrop Grumman AEW systems are Kuwait, Thailand, Malaysia, Italy and Australia with the C-130 as a platform. Poland is also looking at buying refurbished US Navy Hawkeyes.
Existing E-2 customers looking at buying more aircraft include France, Taiwan and Egypt, with the US Navy continuing to upgrade the aircraft they use as their primary carrier-based AEW platform. The link-up with Lockheed Martin allows Northrop Grumman to offer that company's C-130 Hercules and P-3 Orions as AEW platforms.
Source: Flight Daily News
