Northrop Grumman is rallying legislators to reverse a $200 million funding cut to the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye project as part of the US economic stimulus package.
Congress subtracted the funds last year because of concerns that radar development difficulties might force the US Navy to postpone a "milestone C" decision to enter low-rate initial production (LRIP) in the second quarter of 2009. Navy and industry officials now claim that those concerns were based on outdated information, and that the programme is on track for the LRIP decision as scheduled.
The new budget reduces annual output at Northrop's E-2 plant in Jacksonville, Florida from three aircraft to two, and the company claims that more than 350 jobs will be cut because of the reduction.
Northrop confirms that its "immediate look [for restoring funds] is at the stimulus package", referring to the Obama administration's $825 billion economic proposal now being debated by the Senate.
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The USN started developing the E-2D in 2003 to continue the Hawkeye's legacy mission as the airborne radar picket for its carrier battle groups. But by the time the programme entered production in 2007, the E-2D's role had expanded, to also include battle management, control over land operations and theatre missile defence tasks.
The E-2D programme also incorporates Lockheed Martin's new APY-9 solid-state radar, which replaces the Lockheed APS-145 used on the E-2C Hawkeye 2000 fleet.
Also in 2007, the Advanced Hawkeye programme acknowledged a $1 billion overall cost growth due to radar development issues. The technical problems forced the USN to reduce its planned annual E-2D purchase rate from four aircraft to three, before Congress cut this further last year.
The USN still plans to acquire 75 E-2Ds, but a production rate of two a year would be likely to render that plan unfeasible.
Source: Flight International
