E-2D Advanced Hawkeye System has completed its Operational Assessment (OA), flying out of the Northrop Grumman East Coast Manufacturing and Flight Test Center in St. Augustine, Fla. With completion of OA, the flight test program has accumulated more than 600 flight hours, over half involving in-flight radar testing.

Utilizing two test aircraft equipped with fully functioning mission systems, OA was conducted by a U.S. Navy test squadron to assess the potential effectiveness of the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye in a mission environment. Successful completion of OA is one of the critical steps the program must go through prior to a U.S. Navy decision on low-rate initial production. The official written report is anticipated to be released by the Navy in late December.

A key enhancement of the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye is the new AN/APY-9 radar, designed and built by a radar team led by Lockheed Martin representing a two-generation leap in radar technology. The AN/APY-9 can “see” smaller targets and more of them at a greater range than currently fielded radar systems. The new rotodome contains an electronically scanned array that provides critically important, continuous, 360-degree scanning, allowing flight operators to focus the radar on select areas of interest. With its solid-state transmitter, the radar provides significant output power increase and improved reliability.

The E-2D is capable of synthesizing information from multiple onboard and off-board sensors, making complex tactical decisions and disseminating actionable information to joint forces in a distributed, open-architecture environment. By detecting, tracking and defeating theater air missile defense threats at extended range, the Advanced Hawkeye provides the warfighter with expanded battlespace awareness and the required reaction time to deal with emerging threats quickly and accurately.