Northrop Grumman has won a not-to-exceed $1.19bn contract to produce three E-2D Advanced Hawkeye Block II aircraft for the US Navy.
The undefinitised contract, announced by the US Department of War (DoW) on 22 July, covers manufacturing, delivery, and associated support for the trio of aircraft.
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According to the DoW, key work locations include Melbourne, Florida with 29.88%, St. Augustine, Florida with 17.68%, and Liverpool, New York with 13.85%. Additional work will be carried out at various sites in the US and internationally, including Wimborne Minster in Dorset, UK.
Approximately 21% of work will be distributed across various locations within the continental United States. Work is due to be completed by December 2031.
The DoW stated that $583.394m of fiscal year 2026 Navy aircraft procurement funds are being obligated at the time of award.
The Naval Air Systems Command is managing the contracting activity.
The E-2D Advanced Hawkeye Block II is the forthcoming upgrade to the long-serving E-2 airborne command and control aircraft platform, which has been in service for over 60 years.
Northrop Grumman stated last year that the new Block II iteration will introduce a series of enhancements to the platform.
At the Air and Space Power Conference in London on 16 July 2025, Jane Bishop, Northrop Grumman’s sector vice president and general manager for global surveillance, indicated that Block II will be “fielded in a couple of years”.
In April this year, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin confirmed that they completed flight trials for the Digital Receiver Exciter Recorder (DREXR) upgrade on the US Navy’s E-2D Advanced Hawkeye.
The E-2D, the latest version in the E-2 series, is designed for airborne early warning and command and control, providing a 360-degree surveillance capability over both land and sea.
