Northrop Grumman plans to create an Australian subsidiary, which will be known as Hawkeye Mission Systems Australia.
The new company would form part of its joint bid with Lockheed Martin for the Royal Australian Air Force's Project Wedgetail airborne early warning and control requirement.
The new subsidiary would provide support to 120 Northrop E-2C aircraft in service around the world through to 2025, including US Navy aircraft due to receive the Hawkeye 2000 upgrade.
Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin have proposed the AURA variant of the E-2C's APS-145 radar fitted to a Lockheed Martin C-130J for the Australian requirement. The bid has been shortlisted alongside Boeing, offering the Northrop Grumman MESA radar, and Raytheon, offering the Rafael Phalcon radar. Australia is expected to make a source selection by the end of June.
Northrop Grumman intends to place some work packages providing support for operational US Navy E-2Cs with Australian companies. These include an agreement with Canberra-based CEA Technologies to support continuing development of phased-array electronic scanning capabilities for the APS-145 AURA radar.
CEA Technologies has been working on new generation phased array radar systems since the late 1980s. It has provided prototype surface surveillance units to the US Army. A prototype submarine mast detection system has been tested by the US Navy.
Northrop Grumman says the Australian-based subsidiaries of CSC and CelsiusTech would receive further work packages related to USN E-2C aircraft. Both companies have been involved in developing mission software for the Hawkeye 2000 system.
Raytheon acquired the Sydney-based Aerospace Technical Services group in February.
Source: Flight International
