The E-2 airborne command and control aircraft, a platform that has been in service for more than 60-years, will receive upgrades under the forthcoming E-2D Advanced Hawkeye Block II iteration for use in the coming years.
During the Chief of the Air Staff’s Air and Space Power Conference in London on 16 July, Jane Bishop, sector vice president and general manager, global surveillance, Northrop Grumman, confirmed that this iteration will be “fielded in a couple of years”.
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This needs to be sooner rather than later as the US government cancelled its Boeing E-7 Wedgetail order at the end of June 2025, as part of the current administration’s efficiency crusade. The US Department of Defense estimated costs had climbed by $136m per aircraft (out of 26 units), and added that there were survivability issues.
Instead, the US Air Force (USAF) has resolved to lean on space-based capabilities as well as the legacy E-2D aircraft – a variant that reached initial operational capability in October 2014 – for its future airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) fleet.
US and Europe requirements
Not only is E-2D less costly, but the platform is designed to deploy from aircraft carriers which will prove invaluable in conducting Indo-Pacific operations against China.
Meanwhile, the hulking Wedgetail, based on the Boeing 737, has a top-hat radar that covers a significantly larger array than the E-2D. As it is jet-powered, Wedgetail can exceed the turboprop in speed and range. This is one benefit the Wedgetail provides another Indo-Pacific partner, the Royal Australian Air Force, given the vast theatre stretching 100 million kilometres.
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By GlobalDataNevertheless, through the USAF’s Agile Combat Employment concept, many more E-2Ds will be operating across this space, and are more easily replaced than the complex outfitting of Boeing 737s undertaken in the United Kingdom, whose Wedgetail test flights risk delaying the programme by several months.
In Europe, the Wedgetail provides more space for capabilities, plus a greater and more powerful radar range.
What can we expect from the E-2D Block II?
“We’re currently in the midst of development [for Block II], working our way up to [critical design review],” Bishop specified.
“Yesterday’s E-2 is certainly not today’s E-2,” she added. “One of the things that have been very effective is partnering with our ultimate customers on capability roadmaps.”
In particular, Bishop determined “it’s very important that we are pivoting to open mission system architecture – that’s something we’re doing through our Block II configuration”.
A Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) is an design strategy that favours building systems with independent, interchangeable parts (modules) that adhere to open standards. Crucially, the open business model permits sharing risk, maximising reuse of assets, and reducing ownership cost.
While Bishop lauds the MOSA concept for E-2D, the open systems challenge does not end with industry.
From its assessment of 20 acquisition programmes, the Government Accountability Office found that the US government does not consistently coordinate design decisions across its portfolio. This means that the US military will miss opportunities to save money by sharing common parts across different programmes.
Another important future capability to augment the E-2D aircraft will be the integration of artificial intelligence. Through the enabling functions of MOSA, AI will be used to expedite tactical decision-making within the command and control platform.
Beyond these new advances, the aircraft will also undergo a substantial overhaul in replacing the extant integrated navigation, controls, and display systems as well as the tactical mission computer with modern cockpit technology.
