First Squadron of E-2D Advanced Hawkeye Ready to Deploy - Blog
E-2D Advanced Hawkeye: The Sixth Sense of the XXIst Century U.S. Navy Fleet
Aviation Today :: US Navy’s E-2D Advanced Hawkeye Warfighter Achieves IOC
NORFOLK: The famed “eyes of the fleet” are getting sharper. The Navy has declared the latest variant, the E-2D radar plane, ready for real-world operations just in time for the 50th anniversary of the original E-2 Hawkeye. The first five-plane squadron will deploy on the USS Theodore Roosevelt next year. Meanwhile, the current E-2C models are playing an essential role in the Middle East, launching from the USS George Bush to serve as flying command posts and air traffic control for the ongoing strikes against the self-proclaimed Islamic State.
“The CAG and the admiral would not go into harm’s way without an E-2,” said Capt. Drew Basden, commodore of the Navy’s Hawkeye force, “and that’s an E-2C.” While almost indistinguishable to the eye, the new E-2D version brings a much more powerful and discriminating radar — so much so, Basden told reporters visiting here, that the D may eventually do ballistic missile defense. That remark is one clue among many that the Navy wants the Advanced Hawkeye not just to do the current E-2C’s job better, as critical as it is, but to play a larger role.
E-2C/D Hawkeye Early Warning Aircraft - Airforce Technology
The next-generation, E-2D Advanced Hawkeye has a new radar, theatre missile defence capabilities, multisensor integration and a Northrop Grumman Navigation Systems tactical glass cockpit. Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems & Sensors has developed the AN/APY-9 solid-state, electronically steered UHF radar under the E-2C radar modernization program.
Northrop Grumman supplies the transmitter, Raytheon the receiver, L-3 Communications Randtron the UHF antenna and BAE Systems CNIR the identification friend or foe system. An in-flight refuelling capability will extend mission endurance to between eight and nine hours.
The Advanced Hawkeye will replace all 75 USN E-2C aircraft. E-2C Hawkeye became operational over 40 years ago in 1973. The aircraft began full system development and demonstration (SDD) in August 2003 and, in July 2007, Northrop Grumman was awarded a pilot production contract for three aircraft for delivery in 2010. The E-2D was rolled out in May 2007 and made its maiden flight in August 2007
Pacific-Security-and-the-E-2D1.pdf
The main [tasks of the E2D] are
- to increase the airborne surveillance range of air and sea targets,
- extend the integrated fire control network for counter-air operations, and
- function as the primary node for future advanced data networks linking sensors and shooters.
IEEE Xplore Abstract - The Advanced Hawkeye as a System of Systems?Increasing Surveillance Range. At the heart of the E-2D is its new APY-9, a UHF-band electronic scanning array radar. This radar was designed specifically for greater range and volume of coverage. Naval Air Systems command referred to the E-2D as a “two-generation leap in capability and upgraded aircraft systems.”According to the Navy: "The centerpiece of the E-2D is the APY-9 radar system. This radar system is designed specifically to provide significantly enhanced surveillance, detection and tracking capability against advanced threat aircraft and cruise missile systems in the overland, littoral, and open ocean environments. Maritime surveillance is also maintained in the open ocean scenarios."The APY-9 increases the range for the E-2D by about 40% over the range of the E-2C. Calculated for volume, the area scanned is nearly double for the E-2D. Wider scan coverage makes the E-2D much more capable in tracking both air and surface targets simultaneously.The E-2D radar also utilizes a longer wavelength UHF-band mode, which improves its detection of small targets like cruise missiles, unmanned air vehicles and combat aircraft with stealth treatments or features. Structural features in the E-2D design allow the radar to perform to its full potential without interference from the tail section, etc.The US Navy has praised the performance of the E-2D radar from the beginning. “The AN/APY-9 radar is performing very well and will bring to the fleet a significantly increased ability to operate in a highly cluttered environment while providing critical 360-degree coverage,” said Hawkeye program manager US Navy Captain Shane Gahagan back in 2009.Of course, initial detection is not the only piece of the puzzle. The radar employs a technique known as Space-Time Adaptive Processing (STAP) to sort through clutter coming from land masses and the littoral environment.The STAP method used by the E-2D radar processes the radar return data, and drives down the clutter “noise” coming from the ground or from jamming via analytic techniques. To the E-2D radar, the small target is now discernible. The radar adapts automatically to extract data from the return and clarify the battlespace.Sophisticated tracking is only part of the job. The E-2D collects its own track data and assembles data from other ships and aircraft to form a common operational picture of friendly, adversary and unknown contacts in the area. With a common operational picture, the E-2D can function as a central hub of a network for distributing track and targeting data among numerous platforms. An efficient network requires both a larger data pipe and an airborne battle manager. For example, the E-2D could identify a target then hand it off to the F/A-18EF to engage.
There are differences between a traditional system of components, which requires its parts to be fully defined and unalterable throughout its lifecycle, and a system of systems (SoS), which typically displays emergent characteristics over time and has the potential to evolve over its lifetime. This paper will focus on identifying the differences, in both structure and behavior, between a system of components and a SoS. This will be demonstrated by relating the Advanced Hawkeye, which is currently being developed by Northrop Grumman, to the five differentiating characteristics of autonomy, belonging, connectivity, diversity and emergence, as defined by Boardman and Sauser in their paper entitled, "system of systems - the meaning of of." This paper will not classify the Advanced Hawkeye as being a system or a SoS, but will instead use these five characteristics to identify the advanced Hawkeye as existing someplace between the two extremes, as a complex system. The Advanced Hawkeye has been designed based on the E-2C Hawkeye 2000 configuration, and features upgrades to radar, communications, navigation and other aircraft systems, which will improve its supportability and readiness. The Advanced Hawkeye is a complex system, with multiple capabilities, making it a prime example to use for this project. Due to its complexity, and the classified nature of the aircraft, this paper will focus on a broad overview of the aircraft and its relationship to the five aforementioned differentiating characteristics. In addition, insight into the management issues that systems engineers face when dealing with a complex system, rather than a traditional system of components, will be addressed.previously:
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