Paul Lewis/BETHPAGE
Northrop Grumman and the US Navy are discussing offering older Northrop Grumman E-2C Hawkeye airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft for sale on the international market, while also negotiating to place retired A-6E Intruders with at least one potential operator.
The US Navy is starting to phase out Group O E-2Cs as they are replaced by more modern Group 2 aircraft. The last of about 30 aircraft will be retired from active service by 2004.
According to Northrop Grumman business development manager Gary O'Loughlin, about 15 Group O E-2Cs could be available for upgrade and foreign military sale (FMS). The 1980-8 built aircraft are estimated to have around 15 years of service remaining, if operated from ashore instead of in the more demanding carrier environment.
Secondhand aircraft would be targeted at countries that cannot afford the $600 million cost of a single AEW orbit of four new E-2Cs.
The aircraft are also viewed as potential crew trainers for existing E-2C users - such as Singapore, with its fleet of four Group O aircraft, as well as Egypt, Japan and Taiwan, which are upgrading their respective aircraft to equivalent Hawkeye 2000 standard.
Efforts in the meantime are focused on selling 30 A-6Es that have been stored and earmarked for FMS following the retirement of the attack aircraft from the US Navy.
"There are countries interested in the A-6-three have made inquiries," says Dick Gregor, Northrop Grumman mods and overhaul programmes director, who claims that at least one is "serious."
Interest is primarily in the A-6 configured for inflight refuelling with the Sargent-Fletcher buddy-tanking system, rather than as a strike aircraft. The available aircraft are described by Gregor as "the cream of the crop" and include some of the last A-6s assembled in 1992, with less than 1,000h on the airframe.
The US Navy maintains in addition a war reserve of 100 A-6Es out of a fleet of 205 it once operated. "The plan over time is to roll these aircraft into FMS," says Gregor. Also up for sale is a mixed batch of 550 USN Vought A-7E Corsairs and US Air Force A-7Ds.
Northrop Grumman has teamed with Daewoo to offer the A-7's cockpit night-vision system for retrofit to South Korea's McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantoms, Cessna T-37s and Lockheed Martin F-16s.
Source: Flight International
