Northrop Grumman to build 24 E-2D radar aircraft in $3.2 billion deal

摘要

U.S. Navy airborne reconnaissance experts ordered 24 new E-2D Advanced Hawkeye carrier-based airborne early warning aircraft under terms of a $3.2 billion deal. Officials of the Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., are asking the Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems segment in Melbourne, Fla., to build 24 full-rate production lots 7 to 11 E-2D aircraft. The Navy Northrop Grumman E-2D is a tactical airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft designed to operate from aircraft carriers. The twin-engine turboprop aircraft has a distinctive antenna, and provides the carrier battle group with wide-area radar surveillance for enemy monitoring and combat air traffic control. Its large saucer-like radar antenna mounted to the top of the aircraft, as well as other advanced avionics, enables it to detect hostile aircraft and missiles at extremely long ranges and vector Navy aircraft to intercept.