US Navy to get E-2D Advanced Hawkeyes

[Elite Brain]

About bloody time they upgraded the kickass version of the Hawkeye......

(Source: US Navy; issued April 30, 2005)

PATUXENT RIVER, Md. --- The Navy and Northrop Grumman Corp. foreshadowed the future of naval force projection at a “Keel Start” ceremony for the next-generation E-2 aircraft, the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, April 25.

Several members of Congress, U.S. Navy officials and local dignitaries attended the event at Northrop Grumman’s facility in St. Augustine, Fla. Initial construction of the E-2D began in early April.

“With its dramatic and powerful new capabilities, E-2D Advanced Hawkeye will be central in joint battlespace networked operations,” said Rear Adm. David Venlet, the Navy’s program executive officer for tactical aircraft. “It will extend warfighter reach and influence from combatant commanders to forces at the sharp edge of battle on the ground, in the air and on the sea.”

Using the E-2C Hawkeye 2000 configuration as a baseline, the E-2D will feature a state- of-the art radar with a two-generation leap in capability, as well as upgraded aircraft systems that will improve supportability and increase readiness.

“It is expected that the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye will continue the E-2C’s string of successes in providing a global presence for the fleet," said Todd Balazs, acting program manager for the Program Executive Officer, Tactical Aircraft Programs’ E-2/C-2 program.

The E-2D will provide advance warning of approaching enemy surface units, cruise missiles and aircraft, to vector interceptors or strike aircraft to attack. It will also provide area surveillance, communications relay, search and rescue coordination and air traffic control. The aircraft will meet airborne early warning, surveillance, battle management and theater missile defense needs, as the Navy achieves its Sea Power 21 concepts in support of Joint Vision 2020.

“From the time the current E-2C version of this aircraft was introduced in 1973, the Hawkeye has been the premier command and control platform, surpassing 1 million flight hours in its role as the ‘eyes of the fleet’,” said Cmdr. Adam Ferreira, integrated product team lead for the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye. “The U.S. Navy and Northrop Grumman team is devoted to furthering the E-2C’s achievements, creating an aircraft with revolutionary capabilities for future mission requirements.”

The Navy will receive 75 E-2D Advanced Hawkeyes. First flight of the Systems Development and Demonstration aircraft is scheduled for 2007, with delivery to the fleet in 2011.

-ends-

 

[gf0012-aust]

this one will be the last of the manned AEW&C's, it's Buck Rogers after this. UAV's, URV's, USV's next.

 

[SABRE]

Some how i dont like the idea & looks of UAVs. I like old style pilot flying. War is going to be so darn boring in the future. Not in a sence of ppl being killed but battle no longer being an art.

 

[adsH]

Some how i dont like the idea & looks of UAVs. I like old style pilot flying. War is going to be so darn boring in the future. Not in a sence of ppl being killed but battle no longer being an art.

Technology is the Force Multiplier a single UAV can provide atleast Half teh capbility of an Actual AC with Extended Endurance and manuvrability. Its provides no risk to the Operator and at this point you can have 4 UAV working on Wepons delivery or Hunting in Recon missions, you can mix and match and suddenly you have an Amazeing set of capabilities out there in the Feild. that mean if an aiforce devotes half of its personel to operateing UAV they can double the productivity. They can Minimize costs associated with Pilot Loses (potetially worth in Millions). You can tie inn UAV interfaces into AI systems like the Global hawks Navigation system. It navigated from US to Australia unn-tethered on a AI navigation system. Its Amazing what you can achieve with a Proper UAV infrastructure. UAV requires less Concentration as more of the Flight controls are automated. so for the Pilot its a dream come true (hopefully). for an ignorant Pilot its hell since he thinks its a replacement for its self, which is not true you need to maintain a man in the loop for the time being.

 

[corsair7772]

They didnt say anything about reducing electronic noise.

Back in the 1980s the E-2s used by the USN created a lot of electronic noise which allowed Soveit aviation Tu-16s to locate their battle groups and more specifically, their aircraft carriers using their own electronic equipment and vector in their Martime bombers for attack in the area.

I wonder if the E-2D remedies this defect.

 

[adsH]

They didnt say anything about reducing electronic noise.

Back in the 1980s the E-2s used by the USN created a lot of electronic noise which allowed Soveit aviation Tu-16s to locate their battle groups and more specifically, their aircraft carriers using their own electronic equipment and vector in their Martime bombers for attack in the area.

I wonder if the E-2D remedies this defect.

Elctronic Noise detection which is the SIGINT's Subnet functions ELINT (Non communication signal intelligence) COMINT (Communication signal inteligence) as far as i see it the huge amount communications means there are larger no of available units Hooked up to the information system that are well informed (they all come encrypted). Communication system from the last decade has come along way so i would say that penetrating a Battle groups defense systems is not the easiest thing to do. We've had the the further development of JTIDS which uses cleverer localized time slices. reduced communication. and more cleverer E2d with there enhanced Onboard EWAC Data gathering and processing abilities. but you need more then just Signal gathering assets. you can delegate these responsibilities to Cleverer UAV's but you can't delegate the Airborne C&C requirements of the E3d to the UAV, you need to keep the right people in the loop.

 

[A Khan]

How advanced will this version of E-2D be, compared to the Erieye and the (previously) more advanced E-3? in simple terms please

 

[Aussie Digger]

Technology wise it's likely to exceed both Erieye and E-3 simply because it is of a much newer vintage and the USN is paying for it... It will likely be less capable than E-3C/D variants however due to a lower number of consoles, operator etc dictated by the smaller carrier-operable airframe.

I'd say in simple it would likely be in the range and capability of the Wedgetail AWACS, ie: much higher capability than other existing AWACS, but not quite E-3C standards...

Cheers

 

[adsH]

the Wedgetail has a larger Airframe longer endurance (737) airframe, Aussie i doubt they built it to be less capable then the E2D, the E2D has 5 Operators, i doubt in terms of airborne C&C it can compete with any of the other competitors, i'm sure it has Additional Computational power to analyze and access the battlefield Carry out SIGINT EW operations and Guide fighters and other assets around but it has to lack the capabilities Wedgetail a proper AWAC Has.
the Eyrie i gues was designed as an integrated AEW&C since it was designed for the needs of Swedish defense's. I'm sure the Bulk of the processing occurs at ground stations, Our Airborne Stand-Off Radar (ASTOR) System in the UK will have high processing capability but only at ground stations.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/milit...urope/astor.htm
Raytheon's ASARS-2 radar technology, used on U-2 reconnaissance will be mounted on aircraft. five Global Express business jets produced by Bombardier/Shorts which would be mounted with the Radar. Motorola will start work on the ground stations soon.


Aussie ive got a question, since the wedgetail is a product of Bae systems Australia, well did the UK BAE systems contribute.

Section Added:

Yeah i guess i was right there was BAE Uk contribution Turkey has Ordered some of the Wedgtail, if i recall right it was during the last PM vist.

 

[A Khan]

Technology wise it's likely to exceed both Erieye and E-3 simply because it is of a much newer vintage and the USN is paying for it... It will likely be less capable than E-3C/D variants however due to a lower number of consoles, operator etc dictated by the smaller carrier-operable airframe.

I'd say in simple it would likely be in the range and capability of the Wedgetail AWACS, ie: much higher capability than other existing AWACS, but not quite E-3C standards...

Cheers

Thanx for the simple answer

 

[gf0012-aust]

Thanx for the simple answer

I'd probably disagree on some issues here.

1) The Wedgetail has a greater power generation capability - in AWAC's/AEW&C's/ISR the persistent truism is that larger platforms allow greater processing ability through larger on board power. It's also the same rule of thumb used for discussing ISR capability for submarines.

The Wedgetail is regarded as one of the best of the larger AWAC's platforms due to automation efficiencies and the use of available on board power. It's not just a range issue. I'd regard the E2D as being a smaller version of Wedgetail capability - it's technology is suitable for deployment from a carrier - that alone denotes weight restrictions and limits a completely felxible suite. In the scheme of things for the USN that means little degradation as they have the tactical advantage of ForceNET integration. So the E2D will be but one (but critical element) of the Fleets holographic "footprint"

To give a contrarian example though, the Canadian Aurora's are basically Orions using E2C suites - they are less powerful in the processing dept, but were designed within Canadian force limitations.

The number of manned stations does not denote capability - it's determined by a number of factors, the most critical being onboard power to deal with processing demands. ipso facto, thats why theatre battle management platforms (as opposed to just battle platforms) are all big platforms. The bigger the platform, the better its autonomous processing capability.

At the end of the day, the relevance of all of the above is tied into the overall doctrine.