Northrop Grumman's E-2D Advanced Hawkeye Completes 2nd Year of Flight Testing

Northrop Grumman's E-2D Advanced Hawkeye Completes 2nd Year of Flight
Testing

Program On-Track for Initial Operational Test and Evaluation in 2011
Aug 13, 2009

BETHPAGE, N.Y. - In the two years since Northrop Grumman Corporation's (NYSE:NOC) E-2D Advanced Hawkeye took flight at the company's East Coast Manufacturing and Flight Test Center in St. Augustine, Fla., the program has continued on a steady and successful course with an end goal of delivering this revolutionary Airborne Early Warning weapons system to the warfighter.

"Since our first flight in August 2007, the joint Advanced
Hawkeye team has continued to demonstrate its commitment to deliver
this state-of-the-art airborne early warning capability to the U.S.
Navy," said Jim Culmo, Northrop Grumman vice president of Airborne
Early Warning and Battle Management Command and Control Programs. "The
team's solid performance and strong momentum has resulted in the
program achieving, or exceeding, all major milestones."

Culmo said that E-2D pilot production continues ahead of
schedule on the first three aircraft, and production of the first
Low-Rate Initial Production aircraft began June 15 under a $432 million
contract from the U.S. Navy. "The first two E-2D System Development and
Design (SDD) aircraft have transitioned to NAS Patuxent River, Md.,
where they are undergoing additional testing in preparation for Initial
Operational Test & Evaluation, scheduled to begin 1Q FY12," he added.
"Each progressive phase of testing brings us that much closer to
delivering this significantly expanded battlespace and situational
awareness capability to the carrier fleet."

In addition to accumulating more than 1,000 flight hours, over
half of which have involved in-flight radar testing, in the past year
the Advanced Hawkeye program has successfully completed a Production
Readiness Review, Operational Assessment, a Technology Readiness
Assessment and a Milestone C.

"The E-2D program continues to be a great success story," said
Capt. Shane Gahagan, program manager, Hawkeye Greyhound program office,
PMA-231. "Not only is the weapon system meeting or exceeding our
expectations, but the U.S. Navy has recognized the excellent
performance of the joint program management team, evidenced by the
Naval Air Systems Commander's award. Also, with the recent successful
Office of Naval Research live-fire event, the commitments the E-2
program is making to the family of systems architecture known as Naval
Integrated Fire-Control-Counter Air, or NIFC-CA, are also being met."

As the U.S. Navy's carrier-based airborne early warning and
battle management command and control system, the E-2D Advanced
Hawkeye, with its newly developed AN/APY-9 radar, works in concert with
surface combatants equipped with the Aegis combat system to detect,
track and defeat cruise missile threats at extended range.

Northrop Grumman Corporation is a leading global security
company whose 120,000 employees provide innovative systems, products,
and solutions in aerospace, electronics, information systems,
shipbuilding and technical services to government and commercial
customers worldwide.

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