Northrop Grumman Begins Production of First E-2D Advanced Hawkeye for France
The milestone was celebrated in a ceremony that brought together representatives from the French Navy, Naval Air Systems Command and the US Navy International Programs Office, and from Northrop Grumman.…
December 12, 2024
The milestone was celebrated in a ceremony that brought together representatives from the French Navy, Naval Air Systems Command and the US Navy International Programs Office, and from Northrop Grumman.
Northrop Grumman is under contract to produce three E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft for the French Navy (Marine Nationale or MN), the first of which is scheduled to be delivered in 2027. The aircraft will provide airborne early warning and command and control functions from the French Naval aviation (Aeronavale) base at Lorient/Lann-Bihoué, and on board the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle.
The E-2Ds will replace the three earlier E-2C Hawkeye 2000 aircraft now used by Flotille 4F. These have been in service for more than 25 years, having entered service with the French Navy in 1998. The French E-2Cs saw operational use in both Afghanistan and Libya, supporting the French carrier strike group and its Dassault Rafale fighters. France is the only country other than the US to operate the E-2C Hawkeye from an aircraft carrier, providing a useful degree of interoperability between the French and US fleets.
E-2 variants are operated by a number of air forces and navies around the world, including Egypt, France, Japan, Mexico and Taiwan, and the type previously saw service in Israel and Singapore.
In September 2019 Florence Parly, the French Minister of the Armed Forces, announced that three new E-2D Advanced Hawkeyes would be purchased in 2020 to replace the E-2Cs. The E-2D is the latest in a line of Grumman carrierborne AEW aircraft that stretches back more than 60 years, and will bring significant improvements and enhancements compared to the E-2C.
The prototype E-2D made its first flight on 3 August 2007, and the type is fully mature. It has now largely supplanted the older E-2C on US Navy carrier decks. Northrop Grumman has an active E-2D production line and claims a 100% on-time delivery history, and continues to market the aircraft to new operators. The E-2D variant has now been sold to Japan and the Indian Navy has reportedly expressed interest in acquiring up to six E-2D Advanced Hawkeyes.
Northrop Grumman claims that the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye is the “world’s premier Airborne Command & Control aircraft, effective over land and sea,” and it is certainly a cutting-edge platform, with a completely new radar featuring both mechanical and electronic scanning capabilities providing what the company calls “a two-generation leap in radar sensor capability.” The E-2D also has a fully integrated “All Glass” tactical cockpit, a new Mission Computer and tactical workstations, and a modernized communications and datalink suite, the latter providing a robust network enabled capability. The aircraft also incorporates an advanced Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) system and significant Electronic Support Measures (ESM) enhancements. The aircraft uses open architecture compliant, commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS)-based hardware and software, which enables rapid, cost-effective technology upgrades that allow it to remain viable and to outpace ever-evolving threats.
The French E-2Ds will have an air-to-air refuelling capability which the Aeronavale E-2Cs lacked. France has already began exploring use of the Rafale’s buddy refuelling capability to ‘tank’ the E-2D, using an Airbus A400M as a ‘surrogate’ for the E-2D.
Northrop Grumman said that the ‘start-of-production milestone’ puts France “on course to field the world’s premier airborne command and control aircraft.”
At the ceremony, Janice Zilch, vice president, multi-domain command and control programmes for Northrop Grumman said that: “Our partnership with France goes back over 25 years. We are proud to have supported the French Navy with the Hawkeye 2000, and we look forward to providing a generational leap in decision dominance with the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye.”
