Grumman E-2 Hawkeye

E-2 Hawkeye
An E-2D Advanced Hawkeye conducts a flight test
General information
TypeAirborne early warning and control
National originUnited States
ManufacturerGrumman
Northrop Grumman
StatusIn service
Primary usersUnited States Navy
Number built313 (total); 88 (E-2D)[1]
History
Manufactured1960–present
Introduction dateJanuary 1964
First flight21 October 1960
Developed intoGrumman C-2 Greyhound

The Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye is an American all-weather, carrier-capable tactical airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft. This twin-turboprop aircraft was designed and developed during the late 1950s and early 1960s by the Grumman Aircraft Company for the United States Navy as a replacement for the earlier, piston-engined E-1 Tracer, which was rapidly becoming obsolete. The aircraft's performance has been upgraded with the E-2B and E-2C versions, where most of the changes were made to the radar and radio communications due to advances in electronic integrated circuits and other electronics. The fourth major version of the Hawkeye is the E-2D, which first flew in 2007. The E-2 was the first aircraft designed specifically for AEW, as opposed to a modification of an existing airframe, such as the Boeing E-3 Sentry. Variants of the Hawkeye have been in continuous production since 1960, giving it the longest production run of any carrier-based aircraft.

The E-2 also received the nickname "Super Fudd"[2] because it replaced the WF (later E-1) "Willy Fudd". In recent decades, the E-2 has been commonly referred to as the "Hummer" because of the distinctive sounds of its turboprop engines, quite unlike that of turbojet and turbofan jet engines. In addition to U.S. Navy service, smaller numbers of E-2s have been sold to the armed forces of Egypt, France, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Singapore and Taiwan.

Grumman also used the basic layout of the E-2 to produce the Grumman C-2 Greyhound cargo aircraft.

  1. ^ "E-2 Hawkeye total production". Archived from the original on September 16, 2019. Retrieved April 21, 2020.
  2. ^ Koppmann, George C., Carrier Airborne Early Warning. George C. Koppmann (LT, USNR – inactive) home page. [1] Archived December 8, 2006, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved: 13 December 2006.