E-2D Advanced Hawkeye Block II Passes Critical Design Review as Navy Plans to Expand Fleet
The Navy has signed off on a Northrop Grumman modification to the E-2D Hawkeye that will allow faster upgrades to the airborne command and control aircraft, the service said this week. The E-2D Advanced Hawkeye Block II upgrade passed its critical design review preparing the Portfolio Acquisition Executive Aviation for flight tests sometime in Fiscal Year 2029. “Representing the next evolution of Delta System Software Configuration 6 (DSSC-6), the Block II upgrade delivers the software foundation for rapid capability insertion,” reads a statement from the PAE. “This modernization introduces state-of-the-art cockpit architecture, increased computing power, an Open Mission Systems framework
An E-2D Hawkeye, attached to Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron (VAW) 125, prepares to take off from the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) while underway in the Timor Sea in support of Talisman Sabre 2025, July 14, 2025. US Navy photo The Navy has signed off on a Northrop Grumman modification to the E-2D Hawkeye that will allow faster upgrades to the airborne command and control aircraft, the service said this week.
The E-2D Advanced Hawkeye Block II upgrade passed its critical design review preparing the Portfolio Acquisition Executive Aviation for flight tests sometime in Fiscal Year 2029.
“Representing the next evolution of Delta System Software Configuration 6 (DSSC-6), the Block II upgrade delivers the software foundation for rapid capability insertion,” reads a statement from the PAE. “This modernization introduces state-of-the-art cockpit architecture, increased computing power, an Open Mission Systems framework and robust cybersecurity.”
The review follows the a $1.19 billion award to Northrop Grumman for the first three Block II E-2Ds in July, with the first delivery expected in 2030. The Navy planned to stop procuring the aircraft after the Fiscal Year 2024 budget request but resumed acquiring the aircraft as part of the Fiscal Year 2026 budget. Congress funded three aircraft in the FY 2026 budget, and the Navy asked for six in the Fiscal Year 2027 request. The service has said it requires 86 of the aircraft.
Created to support a carrier strike group at sea, the E-2D is built around the AN/APY-9 active electronically scanned array radar is the most advanced command and control aircraft in the U.S. inventory while the Air Force has not yet recapitalized its early warning radar aircraft.
The E-2Ds were a critical command and node during the Operation Epic Fury strikes from ground squadrons, Fleet Forces commander Adm. Karl Thomas said earlier this year.
The Hawkeyes were key to finding both missile and drone threats from Iran in the early days of the conflict. Specifically, the “Blue Tails” of Airborne Command and Control Squadron (VAW) 121 were tasked from supporting the USS Nimitz (CVN-68) trip around South America to being forward deployed to U.S. Central Command.
“We said, quite frankly, it’s the best that we have at detecting that type of thing,” Thomas said during the WEST 2026 conference.
“And since our Gulf partner nations were getting hit indiscriminately, and we had sailors in Bahrain and in Kuwait, it became an easy decision.”
