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Saturday, September 12, 2009

Indian Navy talks to Northrop Grumman on Procurement of E-2D Hawkeye


13:39 GMT, September 11, 2009 According to India Defence Online, the U.S major Northrop Grumman has started talks with the Indian Navy for the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, a platform that provides a highly adaptive form of Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C). The issue of export authorization from the U.S government has been resolved and Northrop Grumman has initiated the preliminary briefings in India. Northrop Grumman has been asked to present a shore-based version of the AEW&C.

Following a request for information (RFI) last year and a recent demand to elucidate the technicalities of the E-2D Hawkeye, the U.S representatives have made a presentation to the Indian Navy. The U.S has also stressed on the “interoperability” aspect of the AEW&C. U.S representatives indicated that if India is looking to be interoperable with the U.S. Navy and NATO through data-link systems, the platform should be the E-2D Hawkeye. They added that if an airborne warning system which is unable to communicate with forces and allies around the world, the larger significance of the early warning system is lost.

India has demanded that Northrop Grumman provides a presentation of the shore-based version of the AEW&C since Indian naval aircraft would require ski-jump compatibility and not the conventional catapult-launched version. India is vouching for shore-based versions since its aircraft carrier INS Viraat will be phased out soon and the Admiral Gorshkov is plagued with constant delays.

The Indian Navy is also open to advanced designs which will be resourceful in the future. As for the carrier-based AEW&C of the US Navy, the E-2D Hawkeye has newly developed AN/APY-9 radar which can operate in accordance with surface combatants equipped with the Aegis combat system to detect, track and defeat cruise missile threats at extended range. The new radar represents a two-generational leap in radar technology since it can see smaller targets and more of them at a greater range than currently fielded radar systems.

India has been keen on augmenting its surveillance capabilities and has a requirement of six aircraft.

India has also ordered eight P8-I long-range maritime reconnaissance (LRMR) aircraft to replace its aging Tupolev Tu-142M maritime surveillance turboprops.

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