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E-2D Advanced Hawkeye completes first catapult launch
By Gareth Jennings
20 October 2009
Delta One undergoing ground-based catapult launch trials at NAS Patuxent River in Maryland as part of the type's system development and demonstration shore-based test phase. (Northrop Grumman)
The first Northrop Grumman E-2D Advanced Hawkeye airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) test aircraft – Delta One – has successfully completed its first land-based catapult launch tests, the company announced on 16 October.
System development and demonstration aircraft, Delta One and Delta Two, are currently undergoing shore-based carrier suitability testing at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, conducted by the US Navy's (USN's) Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 20 (VX-20).
The catapult-launch trials are designed to test both the structural integrity of the aircraft and its systems against the loads encountered during carrier operations as well as the interoperability between the aircraft and the ship.
According to the company test pilot: "We completed multiple launches and during each one Delta One performed as expected, with no noted anomalies."
The E-2D is the sixth generation of the E-2. While its external appearance is similar to the E-2C currently in service with the navy, the internal systems of the Advanced Hawkeye have been redesigned and its capabilities vastly expanded.
The E-2D is due to begin its initial operational test and evaluation phase in 2011, with an in-service date currently scheduled for later that year.