E-2C Hawkeye: Eyes of the Fleet
Put a sensor of sufficient resolution high enough, and you will see enemy forces before they can harm you. This is the guiding principal behind most early warning systems, from reconnaissance satellites to Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). For naval leaders, there is no more important 'high ground' than that occupied by Airborne Early Warning (AEW) aircraft. The first U.S. Navy AEW birds date back to World War II, when converted TBF/ TBM Avengers were modified to carry a small airborne radar and operator for the purpose of detecting incoming Japanese Kamikaze aircraft far enough out for fighters to be vectored to intercept them. After the war, special purpose-built AEW aircraft were developed. These were designed to deal with the new generation of jets and ASMs faced by Cold War-era Naval forces. The first of these was the Grumman E-1 Tracer, a development of the S-2F Tracker ASW aircraft. For almost a decade the E-1 worked as the primary carrier-based AEW aircraft for the USN; but the operational conditions of the Vietnam conflict showed the numerous shortcomings of the Tracer, including poor overland radar performance and limited endurance and service altitude. Though they served aboard modified
One of the last propeller-driven aircraft in the CVW, the E-2C Hawkeye is the Navy's all-weather, carrier- based tactical AEW aircraft. The E-2C uses computerized sensors for early warning, threat analysis, and control against air and surface targets. It provides the carrier battle group with all-weather AEW services, as well as command, control, and communications (C) functions for the carrier battle group. Additional missions include surface surveillance, strike and interceptor control, Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) guidance, Over-the-Horizon (OTH) targeting, and communications relay. Designed to a 1955 specification, and upgraded through at least six generations of electronic technology, the Hawkeye remains in production today. The E-2C has also been adopted by the French Navy, and at least five other countries that do not even have aircraft carriers. This is a tribute to the cost-effective mix of robust airframe, compact sensor and avionics suite, and turboprop power plants. Unit cost: $51 million-cheap for the protection it provides. Before you gag on that number, consider that a new F/A-18E/F Super Hornet will cost you even more per copy, and I don't know any battle group commander who would not like a few more of the precious E-2Cs.
One thing all that money does not buy is beauty. As you walk up to a Hawkeye, pieces of it seem to be going everywhere. Wings are folded back on the fuselage, with the big radar rotodome perched up top like a tethered flying saucer. Though it is not gorgeous to look at, the E-2C has a functional elegance, doing the same kind of mission as its larger USAF cousin, the Boeing E-3 Sentry. That it does this on an airframe a fifth the size, and off a carrier deck, is a measure of its sophistication and value. When the Grumman engineers designed the E-2, they started with a perfect cylinder. Into this they packed all the electronics, fuel, two pilots, and three radar controllers. The finishing touch came when they mounted the rotating radar dome (called a 'rotodome') on top, and attached a pair of long wings mounting a pair of Allison T-56-A427 turboprop engines with five thousand shaft horsepower each.
Dimensionally, the Hawkeye is 57 feet, 6 inches/17.5 meters long, with a wingspan of 80 feet, 7 inches/28 meters, and a height of 18 feet, 3 inches/ 5.6 meters to the top of the radar dome. Though it is the largest aircraft flying on and off carriers today, it is not the heaviest. At a maximum gross takeoff weight of 53,000 lb/23,850 kg (40,200 lb/18,090 kg 'dry'), the E-2C is actually lighter than the F-14 Tomcat. The wings have the longest wingspan of any carrier aircraft in the world; and when folded, they use the classic Grumman 'Stow-Wing' concept, which has them folding against the fuselage. The tail is composed of a horizontal stabilizer with four vertical stabilizers to give the Hawkeye the necessary 'bite' to move the heavy bird around the sky. Though it has only ten thousand horsepower behind the twin props, the Hawkeye is capable of speeds over 300 knots/345 mph/552 kph, and can operate at altitudes of 30,000 feet/9,144 meters. Because Hawkeyes are unarmed, no battle group commander would be considered sane if there were less than two fighters protecting his E-2C. Hawkeyes are true 'high value units' and are
On board, the crew of five is busy, for they're doing a job that on the larger E-3 Sentry takes several dozen personnel. The pilot and copilot fly precisely positioned and timed racetrack-shaped patterns, designed to optimize the performance of the E-2C's sensors. In back, the three radar-systems operators are tasked with tracking and sorting the contacts detected by the Hawkeye's APS-145 radar. This Westinghouse-built system is optimized for operations over water and can detect both aircraft and surface contacts out to a range of up to 300 nm/345 mi/552 km. To off-load as much of the workload as possible, a great deal of the raw data is sent back to the task force's ships via a digital data link. With this off-board support, the three console operators are able to control a number of duties, including intercepts, strike and tanker operations, air traffic control, search and rescue missions, and even surface surveillance and OTH targeting.
Along with the 141 E-2Cs produced for the USN, the Hawkeye has had considerable export success. No less than six foreign governments have bought them: Israel (four), Egypt (six), France (two for their new carrier
There also has been one major variant of the Hawkeye, a transport version known as the C-2A Greyhound. Basically an E-2 airframe with a broader fuselage and the radar rotodome deleted, it can deliver cargo and passengers hundreds of miles/kilometers out to sea. Known as a COD (for Carrier Onboard Delivery) aircraft, it replaced the elderly C-1 Trader, which is itself a variant of the earlier E-1 Tracker. With its broad rear loading ramp and fuselage, the C-2 can carry up to twenty-eight passengers, twenty stretcher cases, or cargo up to the size of an F-110 engine for the F-14.
The Hawkeye has had a long run in USN service. The original — A model was first flown in October 1960, to provide early warning services for the new generation of supercarriers then coming into service. In January 1964, the first of fifty-nine E-2As were delivered to their squadrons, and were shortly headed into combat in Southeast Asia. These were later updated to the E-2B standard, which remained in use until replaced by the E-2C in the 1970's. The first E-2Cs entered USN service with Airborne Early Warning Squadron (VAW) 123 at NAS Norfolk, Virginia, in November of 1973. The — C-model Hawkeye was produced in order to provide the F-14 Tomcat with an AEW platform matched to the new fighter's capabilities. Though visually identical to the earlier models, the E-2C was equipped with new-technology digital computers that provided a greatly increased capability for the new Hawkeye. These gave the operators the ability to track and intercept the dozens of Soviet bombers and hundreds of ASMs and SSMs that were expected to be fired at CVBGs if the Cold War ever turned 'hot.'
In any event, the E-2Cs never directed the massive air battles they had been designed for. Instead, the Hawkeye crews spent the declining years of the Cold War flying their racetrack patterns over the fleets, maintaining their lonely vigil for a threat that never came. Carrier-based Hawkeyes were not strangers to combat, however. E- 2Cs guided F-14 Tomcat fighters flying combat air patrols during the 1981 and 1989 air-to-air encounters with the Libyan Air Force, as well as the joint USN/USAF strike against terrorist-related Libyan targets in 1986. Israeli E-2Cs provided AEW support during their strikes into Lebanon in 1982, and again during the larger invasion the following year. More recently, E-2Cs provided the command and control for successful operations during the Persian Gulf War, directing both land strike and CAP missions over Iraq and providing control for the shoot-down of the two Iraqi F-