Frozen Hell
New Member
The aircraft may look much the same after 30 years but lessons learned by the U.S. Navy, during Operations Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) and Iraqi Freedom in particular, are helping to transform both the Northrop Grumman E-2C Hawkeye as a system and the way it is used.
Gone is the shipboard airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft providing cover for a blue-water carrier group. Today’s Hawkeye 2000 for export customers already offers a substantial command-and-control system that has won its battle-management honors over land, directing air operations and in close contact with ground forces as well as other airborne assets. And the Advanced Hawkeye coming along later this decade will, as they say, be a completely different animal. The new radar, able to cope with now rapidly proliferating cruise missile threats, will be allied to comprehensive command-and-control systems with full cooperative engagement capability.
Singapore with four aircraft, Japan with 13 and Taiwan with four of a planned six are existing E-2 customers in the region. Nine of the Japanese aircraft have so far been converted to Hawkeye 2000 configuration and Taiwan will get its first 2000 next year. Other potential Asia/Pacific customers listed here at the show by Cdr. Drew Williams, responsible for foreign military sales in U.S. Naval Air Systems Command, include South Korea, Thailand and Malaysia.
Elsewhere, India, Qatar, Oman, Pakistan, Spain, Italy and the UK are all discussing requirements, according to Williams, while the United Arab Emirates remains in final negotiations for five aircraft. Egypt has six E-2Cs, all being converted to Hawkeye 2000 standard equivalent to the latest U.S. Navy configuration.
Specific lessons learned during Operation Iraqi Freedom are now being fed into continuing U.S. Navy Hawkeye procurement. Examples include improved and more flexible communications with more satcom channels, ARC-210 radios and other upgrades, automation of the conventional paper air tasking order and much greater integration of the various data sources used to create the overall coherent tactical picture.
India already ordered $1.5 bn phalcons from israel, would Pakistan aggressively go after US to supply some E2c?
Gone is the shipboard airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft providing cover for a blue-water carrier group. Today’s Hawkeye 2000 for export customers already offers a substantial command-and-control system that has won its battle-management honors over land, directing air operations and in close contact with ground forces as well as other airborne assets. And the Advanced Hawkeye coming along later this decade will, as they say, be a completely different animal. The new radar, able to cope with now rapidly proliferating cruise missile threats, will be allied to comprehensive command-and-control systems with full cooperative engagement capability.
Singapore with four aircraft, Japan with 13 and Taiwan with four of a planned six are existing E-2 customers in the region. Nine of the Japanese aircraft have so far been converted to Hawkeye 2000 configuration and Taiwan will get its first 2000 next year. Other potential Asia/Pacific customers listed here at the show by Cdr. Drew Williams, responsible for foreign military sales in U.S. Naval Air Systems Command, include South Korea, Thailand and Malaysia.
Elsewhere, India, Qatar, Oman, Pakistan, Spain, Italy and the UK are all discussing requirements, according to Williams, while the United Arab Emirates remains in final negotiations for five aircraft. Egypt has six E-2Cs, all being converted to Hawkeye 2000 standard equivalent to the latest U.S. Navy configuration.
Specific lessons learned during Operation Iraqi Freedom are now being fed into continuing U.S. Navy Hawkeye procurement. Examples include improved and more flexible communications with more satcom channels, ARC-210 radios and other upgrades, automation of the conventional paper air tasking order and much greater integration of the various data sources used to create the overall coherent tactical picture.
India already ordered $1.5 bn phalcons from israel, would Pakistan aggressively go after US to supply some E2c?