E2D aircraft

The US Navy has reportedly confirmed plans to integrate future unmanned carrier-launched airborne surveillance and strike (UCLASS) aircraft within the same air unit that currently operates Northrop Grumman‘s E-2C / D airborne command and control jets.

Previous plans involved operating the UCLASS aircraft as a separate entity, a detachment to Lockheed Martin’s F-35C fighter wing or as a detachment to a group that includes the E-2C / D, Flight Global reported.

In a notice, naval officials said that the first UCLASS unit will be a detachment to the airborne command and control logistics fleet on the aircraft carrier, which includes the E-2C and E-2D aircraft, confirming the assignment of the UCLASS fleet to the E-2 unit commander.

In September 2013, a request for proposal (RFP) was expected to be released with the four vendors who won preliminary design review deals for the air vehicle design in August of the same year.

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"The first UCLASS unit will be a detachment to the airborne command and control logistics fleet."

Companies including Boeing, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman are still waiting for the release of a final RFP for a contract in the UCLASS programme, which is worth up to $6bn.

The UCLASS programme was suspended in September 2014 so it could be incorporated in a wider re-evaluation of investment on intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance potential.

Claimed to be the latest and most technologically advanced variant of the E-2 Hawkeye airborne early warning command and control (AEW&C) platform, the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft can be used for airborne strikes, land force support, rescue operations and drug interdiction missions.


Image: The US Navy’s E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft. Photo: courtesy of the US Navy, photo by mass communication specialist 3rd class Shane A Jackson.