Contract modification for Northrop Grumman to provide three E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft to France.

The U.S. Department of Defense announced on December 22 that Northrop Grumman Systems, Military Aircraft Systems, Melbourne, Florida, is awarded a $353,584,118 fixed-price incentive (firm target) modification to a previously awarded contract (N0001918C1037) dated January 6, 2021. This modification provides for the production and delivery of three E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft for the government of France. The aircraft delivery to France will take place in 2028 at the latest.
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E-2D Advanced Hawkeye (Picture source: Northrop Grumman)

Work will be performed in St. Augustine, Florida (27.52%); Syracuse, New York (19.07%); Melbourne, Florida (6.66%); Indianapolis, Indiana (5.32%); Menlo Park, California (4.31%); El Segundo, California (4.21%); Rolling Meadows, Illinois (2.22%); Aire-sure-l'Adour, France (2.16%); Owego, New York (1.62%); Edgewood, New York (1.42%); Marlboro, Massachusetts (1.35%); Woodland Hills, California (1.29%); Greenlawn, New York (1.24%); Windsor Locks, Connecticut (1.15%); various locations within the continental U.S. (20.06%); and various locations outside the continental U.S. (0.42%), and is expected to be completed April 2027.

Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $353,584,118 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

The French Navy has been operating the E-2C Hawkeye since 1998 and is the only country other than the United States to operate its E-2 Hawkeyes from an aircraft carrier. This capability enables interoperability exercises that support Hawkeyes from each other’s carrier flight decks. With the U.S. Navy’s fleet transition to E-2D squadrons, the French Navy intends to maintain interoperability and partnership.

The E-2D Advanced Hawkeye is a game-changer in how the Navy will conduct battle management command and control. By serving as the “digital quarterback” to sweep ahead of a strike, manage the mission, and keep our net-centric carrier battle groups out of harm's way, the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye is the key to advancing the mission, no matter what it may be. The E-2D gives the warfighter expanded battlespace awareness, especially in the area of information operations delivering battle management, theater air and missile defense, and multiple sensor fusion capabilities in an airborne system.

With a two-generation leap in radar sensor capability and a robust network-enabled capability, the Advanced Hawkeye will deliver critical, actionable data to joint forces and first responders. These advances provide warfighters with the necessary situational awareness to compress the time between initial awareness and active engagement.

First flight in August 2007

In August 2003, Northrop Grumman and Team Hawkeye committed to delivering Delta One, the first system development and demonstration (SD&D) aircraft and on August 3, 2007, it delivered on that promise conducting its successful first flight. Advanced Hawkeye is the cornerstone of the U.S. Navy’s theater air and missile defense architecture in the littorals, overland, and open sea.

Some of the many new features of the Advanced Hawkeye

• A completely new radar featuring both mechanical and electronic scanning capabilities
• Fully Integrated “All Glass” Tactical Cockpit
• Advanced Identification Friend or Foe System
• New Mission Computer and Tactical Workstations
• Electronic Support Measures Enhancements
• Modernized Communications and Data Link Suite

These and other new developments incorporated into the E-2D ensure

• True 360-degree radar coverage provides uncompromised all-weather tracking and situational awareness
• Open architecture compliant, commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS)-based hardware and software enables rapid, cost-wise technology refresh for consistent leading-edge mission tools
• A true FORCEnet enabler – A force multiplier through network-enabled capability, Advanced Hawkeye is the gateway to Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Michael G. Mullen’s vision for a “1,000-ship navy.”
• Multi-mission flexibility ranging from command and control through missile defense to border security

E-2D Advanced Hawkeye (Picture source: Northrop Grumman)