OREANDA-NEWS. Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) along with the U.S. Navy have successfully conducted the critical design review (CDR) for the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye Aerial Refueling (AR) system.
"The AR team continues to put outstanding effort into bringing this much needed capability to the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye," said Capt. John Lemmon, program manager, E-2/C-2 Airborne Tactical Data System Program Office (PMA-231). "Aerial Refueling will enable the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye to provide longer on-station times at greater ranges."

Under a $226.7 million engineering, manufacturing and development (EMD) contract awarded in 2013, Northrop Grumman is designing, developing, manufacturing and testing several sub-system upgrades necessary to accommodate an aerial refueling capability.

Approval of this critical milestone demonstrates design maturity and acknowledgment that the program is ready to transition to the build/test phase. CDR also moves the program closer to installing this capability on new production aircraft. The E-2D aircraft already in service will be retrofitted with the aerial refueling capability.

"Achieving this critical milestone moves the program one step closer to fielding this much needed capability to the Warfighter," said Jane Bishop, vice president, E-2/C-2 programs, Northrop Grumman.

Installation of the developmental Aerial Refueling subsystem and flight test instrumentation onto the E2D test aircraft will commence in the second quarter of FY2016 at Northrop Grumman'sSt. Augustine manufacturing facility. Flight testing for the AR-equipped E-2D test aircraft is planned for FY2017, with Initial Operational Capability (IOC) expected in FY2020.