The Navy achieved initial operational capability with its next generation AWACS platform, the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye earlier this month, Naval Air Systems Command announced. “The E-2D can detect smaller targets, at longer ranges, over water, in littoral areas, and over land in dense clutter environments,” program manager Navy Capt. John Lemmon said in a NAVAIR release. In addition to its vastly more powerful radar, the Advanced Hawkeye boasts a glass cockpit as well as improved avionics and communications equipment. A total of 15 of the new-build aircraft have been delivered on time and budget, and the Navy plans to purchase a total of 75 Advanced Hawkeyes, according to builder Northrop Grumman’s Oct. 27 release. The legacy E-2C model Hawkeye entered service as a carrier-based AWACS in 1972, and is gradually being phased out as E-2Ds are delivered through 2023, according to the Navy. (Factsheet.)
The Government Accountability Office wants the Air Force to explain who will run bases when wings deploy under the service’s new force generation model along with several other unanswered questions, saying the concept is long on vision but short on details.