Naval AEW&C Aircraft

This thread will be about a critical aspect of any type of carrier operations. A critical component that can give a huge advantage to any navy that can exploit it, and in turn, leave at a significant disadvantage any navy that cannot.

This capability is naval Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft.

This thread will be about the various existing aircraft, their capabilities, news regarding them, and about future aircraft planned for operation. Not wild-eyed fan bboy dreams mind you, but actual projects in the works if you please.

To start it off, I will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the most capable aircraft in naval aviation history in this regard, the E-2 Hawkeye.

Sea Waves said:

NAS Patuxent River January 17, 2014 - A yearlong series of events will mark the milestone 50th anniversary of the first E-2 Hawkeye airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft that was delivered to Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron (VAW) 11 on Jan. 19, 1964, becoming what is affectionately known as “the eyes and ears of the Navy.” As the first aircraft explicitly designed for the Navy’s AEW mission, the E-2 has had a presence aboard every carrier strike group in the Navy’s arsenal and has participated in every major combat operation, providing humanitarian and disaster relief.

The E-2/C-2 Airborne Tactical Data Systems Program Office (PMA-231) has named 2014 as the Year of the Hawkeye. The E-2D Advanced Hawkeye is the newest variant of the E-2 aircraft platform. It features a state-of-the-art radar with a two-generation leap in capability and upgraded aircraft systems that will improve fleet supportability and increase readiness. The E-2D is on schedule to reach initial operational capability later this year.

Jan. 19 kicks off a yearlong series of events focusing feature podcasts, videos, photos and articles about the E-2 Hawkeye that will be posted online at

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

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The new E-2D Advanced Hawkeye is complete new build aircraft with a two generation leap ahead in AEW&C technology for US Navy operations

Many of the uninformed look at an E-2 and think.. that thing can't do anything...WTH?? On the contrary the E-2 is the most important part of a CVW. They are called the Eyes of the fleet.

No flight ops start without an E-2 airborne..

bd popeye said:

The E-2 is the most important part of a CVW. They are called the Eyes of the fleet..

No flight ops start without an E-2 airborne.

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Amen to that, popeye!

Currently these are the AEW&C aircraft operated from Aircraft carriers:

US Navy:
E-2C AEW&C
E-2D AEW&C

French Navy:
E-2C AEW&C

Royal Navy:
Sea King ASaC7 AEW

Italian Navy:
AgustaWestland EH-101A AEW

Indian Navy:
Kamov Ka-31 AEW

Russian Navy:
Kamov Ka-31 AEW

Chinese Navy:
Kamov Ka-31 AEW

...and here are pictures of those various types:


I do not believe the Brazilians have a dedicated AEW aircraft, thought they may have some old Trackers coming. Also am not sure what the Spanish use.

Jeff Head said:

Amen to that, popeye!



I do not believe the Brazilians have a dedicated AEW aircraft, thought they may have some old Trackers coming. Also am not sure what the Spanish use.

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The Brazilians do but not navy. They depend on the air force's embraer r99 for aew which are pretty decent platforms..

Some specifications :
E-2C/APS-145 can track 40 aerial targets simultaneously with a max range of 550 km.
E-2D/APY-9 40+ and 650.

The best range for Awacs is the B-737AEW/MESA 745 km and for number of targets him, E-3 and E-767, about 180.

The more bad first A-50 Russian.

Ka-31 radar 150 and 20/40 targets.

I had no idea until recently that E2 family of aircraft had no in flight refuelling capability until the newest D variant. And even with the D variant lots of texts mention "equipped for IFR capability", not necessarily having an ifr system from the start as standard equipment.

that being said, israelis were the only ones (i think) which specifically wanted ifr on their e2 back in the day and had the system installed.

the brazillian navy was supposed to overhaul a number of retired USN S3 trackers to the Turbo tracker configuration and then farther into tankers and AEWs.

TerraN_EmpirE said:

the brazillian navy was supposed to overhaul a number of retired USN S3 trackers to the Turbo tracker configuration and then farther into tankers and AEWs.

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Yes, that is what I had heard...a couple of years or more ago I read that. That's why I added, "thought they may have some old Trackers coming," to my comments below. I will try and dig more up on that and see what happened to that plan.

Okay, I found the references about the Brazilian plans. It is over three years old. :

According to an article in the October 2010 issue of Air Forces Monthly, Brazil purchased ex-Australian and ex-Uruguayan C-1 Trader airframes for conversion into AEW and Tanker aircraft. They were to be upgraded to S-2T Turbo Tracker configuration with Honeywell TPE 331-14GR engines. It included nine airframes, two for tankers to refuel the Skyhawks, and three for AEW. The others were to be used for cargo aircraft and spare parts. The AEW radar requirement was for a range of 250 miles at 25,000 feet. Operational lifespan for the airframes was expected to be in excess of 10 years. They were alos expected to be ready by 2012 so should already have been in service.

From a :

[quotw=FlightGlobal]The Brazilian navy's prime concern, however, remains finding airborne early warning assets for the aircraft carrier São Paulo. The navy intends imminently to inspect four stored Uruguayan navy Grumman S-2G Trackers, in the hope of obtaining the aircraft and again having Embraer fit them with TP331-14Gs.

Embraer has previously looked at the Eliradar HEW-784 and Thales Searchwater 2000AEW for development of a Tracker-based AEW platform. These aircraft would feature three mission stations, Link 11, ESM, plus new avionics and communications/navigation suites.[/quote]

Not sure what has happened with this. I will look further into it.

This is how the E-1B Tracer looked in US Navy service which the AEW version of the S2 Tracker back then. Such an option would be very nice for Brazil and would be superior to a helicopter option.


...and we know the S-2T can operate off of the Sao Paulo. The Argentines, who have some S-2Ts, but no longer have a carrier, peridodially cross deck to the Sao Paulo. Here is one landing on the Sao Paulon in 2002.


So you have to know the Brazilians would love to have five of these aircraft operating off of the carrier, two for refueling and three for AEW...heck, while they are at it, have another three for the ASW role.

note the radar they were looking at was is designed for Helicopters, I saw a graphic online that indicated they inteneded to mount the radar on a retractable mount in the belly.