Northrop Sounds Alarm On $200M E-2D Cutback
Feb 9, 2009
By Bill Sweetman
The E-2D Advanced Hawkeye program appears to be set to take a hit to its budgeted procurement in fiscal years 2009 and 2010 — a move that comes as the U.S. Navy’s is recommitting to F-35C initial production.
The two moves have not been directly linked by officials, but the Joint Strike Fighter’s (JSF) program executive officer said last month that the Navy’s reinstated F-35C spending came at the expense of other naval air accounts (Aerospace DAILY, Jan. 20).
In turn, Northrop Grumman issued a statement Feb. 6 calling on Congress to restore the E-2D funding and declaring that an apparent $200-plus million cut to planned procurement is a “high-risk” move that would put U.S. jobs and even global security at risk. Specifically, the company said the cutback would boost unit cost to the Navy by about 20 percent and mean a loss of 350 jobs in a supplier base spread across 38 U.S. states beginning imminently.
“There is a great sense of urgency today to restore production procurement dollars into the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye budget — otherwise hundreds of U.S. jobs will be lost and taxpayers will not derive the benefit of economies of scale,” said Tom Vice, Northrop’s vice president for its Aerospace Systems sector.
If not restored, Northrop warns it may also hurt the company’s efforts to sell the E-2D overseas. The aircraft is being promoted in versions to India and the United Arab Emirates.
Vice also stressed that the industry team recently completed a successful operational assessment with two E-2D system development and demonstration prototypes and were on schedule with three pilot-production aircraft. Moreover, the Northrop-led team has manufacturing capacity now to accommodate up to 10 E-2D’s annually in support of the Navy’s plan to contract for 70 more aircraft, he said.
The E-2D provides the over-the-horizon coverage where the seabased Aegis radar cannot see, and the long-range, wide-area, persistent coverage that aircraft carrier-based fighters cannot support — making it important to Navy air defense in ways that are not immediately obvious.
But both the Navy and Marine Corps face looming tactical aircraft “gaps” in coming years, and the JSF is constantly under scrutiny as the largest defense acquisition effort ever. Some key legislators further have demanded that aviation recapitalization not come at the expense of the Navy’s embattled shipbuilding efforts.
Defense officials, meanwhile, have long warned that lawmakers’ insistence on pursuing an unrequested second JSF engine program could come at the cost of aircraft acquisition. The F-35C production cutback option was eyed last year when Congress, again, restored the F136 alternate engine program over Pentagon and White House objections.
Photo: Northrop Grumman
