Navy orders 24 more E-2D Advanced Hawkeye radar aircraft and avionics

U.S. Navy airborne reconnaissance experts ordered 24 new E-2D Advanced Hawkeye carrier-based airborne early warning aircraft under terms of a $3.2 billion deal announced Wednesday. Officials of the Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., are asking the Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems segment in Melbourne, Fla., to build 24 full-rate production lots 7 to 11 E-2D aircraft. The Navy Northrop Grumman E-2D is a tactical airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft designed to operate from aircraft carriers. The twin-engine turboprop aircraft has a distinctive antenna, and provides the carrier battle group with wide-area radar surveillance for enemy monitoring and combat air traffic control.