Lockheed Martin received a $413.5 million contract today to begin the System Development and Demonstration (SD&D) phase of the Advanced Hawkeye (AHE) program for the U.S. Navy's E-2C Hawkeye aircraft. Lockheed Martin leads the AHE industry team responsible for design and development of the Hawkeye's next-generation radar, which will replace the current AN/APS-145 airborne radar by 2010.

As the radar prime contractor, Lockheed Martin received advanced funding from Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems in March 2002 to begin the pre-SD&D phase. The E-2C Airborne Early Warning (AEW) radar program team at Lockheed Martin's Syracuse, NY, facilities then began to develop system requirements for the Advanced Hawkeye Radar, which is planned to meet the U.S. Navy's Littoral Surveillance and Theatre Air and Missile Defense (TAMD) missions. Lockheed Martin's team for the radar SD&D phase includes Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems and Raytheon Electronic Systems.

"The Advanced Hawkeye will provide the enhanced airborne command and control and expanded surveillance umbrella that will be a foundation of SeaPower 21," said NAVAIR E-2/C-2 Program Manager Captain Bob LaBelle. "This new platform will be key to the Navy's role in future military strategy."

"Lockheed Martin is proud of our 40-year role in producing the E-2 radar, and we continue to appreciate the confidence placed in us by the U.S. Navy and Northrop Grumman," said Dick Evans, Lockheed Martin's director of airborne radar programs, "We are looking forward to further refining this capability for our nation's Navy."

Lockheed Martin currently makes an average of five AN/APS-145 radar systems a year in Syracuse and has the capability to build up to 10 systems a year. The new AHE radar will be built to fit into a space approximately the same as that for the AN/APS-145, despite the new system's added capability and complexity.

Evans said that during the SD&D phase the company would produce five radar systems that will be used by the Navy for qualification, reliability and flight-testing. This will be followed by a full-scale production program to equip the 75 aircraft in the E-2C fleet by 2020.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin employs about 125,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture and integration of advanced technology systems, products and services.

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SOURCE: Lockheed Martin