A_T_I_2015_04_

z V-22 & E-2D military trials

76 |^

APRIL 2015

AEROSPACETESTINGINTERNATIONAL.COM

THE LONG ROAD
The first two E-2D test aircraft, known
as AA-1 (Delta One) and AA-2 (Delta
Two), or BuNos 166501 and 166502,
were used for the system development
and demonstration (SDD) phase. Of
these two airframes, AA-1, first flown
on August 3, 2007, was primarily
concerned with air vehicle testing and
was equipped with stress sensors and
telemetry instrumentation. AA-2,
which completed its maiden flight on
November 29, 2007, has been used
mainly for testing mission systems.
Overheating problems, played down
by Northrop, were cited as a reason for
funding cuts toward the end of 2008,
which slowed the program down and
threatened to delay production. The SDD
aircraft left the manufacturer’s facility
at St Augustine for Naval Air Station
Patuxent River, Maryland, where they
began electromagnetic environmental
effects testing. This was followed by
carrier suitability assessments between
late 2009 and early 2010. Pilot

production verification testing was

completed in 2010, with the aim of

beginning initial operational test and

evaluation (IOT&E) in autumn 2011.

One man involved intimately in the

test effort was VX-20 air vehicle project

officer Lt Cdr Drew ‘Balls’ Ballinger.

“The E-2 is an aircraft you do not want

to stall, but we did that intentionally

during flight test and it is one of the

more demanding and eye-opening

tests,” Ballinger recalls. “We put the

gear down and set the flaps at full, and

when you keep pulling back and force

it, eventually the Hawkeye rolls onto its

back, going inverted, and then you have

to pull it out. That is a scenario that is not

a real-world likely event, but we must

still record the flight characteristics.”

SYSTEM IMPROVEMENTS

The different flight characteristics

of the E-2D compared with earlier

iterations of the Hawkeye were a result

of, among other factors, a maximum

speed increased to 345kts at sea level

and a gross weight 2,500 lb greater

than the E-2C. For the operator, the

main changes in the E-2D are avionic.

Lt Cdr Dave ‘Cabbage’ Peterson served

as lead flight-test Naval Flight Officer

attached to VX-20’s E-2D detachment.

He comments, “In our jobs, after we fly,

we will note down the things we liked

or things that could be improved, mostly

software, and we work side-by-side with

the Northrop Grumman engineers in our

goal to present the fleet with the best

new derivative of Hawkeye. Sometimes

we have small user-group discussions

and arrive at a consensus before

recommending a change.”

Peterson praises the ITT setup due

to the speed with which changes could

be effected using on-hand engineers

from Northrop: “Changes are made

incredibly fast and if we were flying

from a remotely located test site,

updates would take much longer.

While the radar is the most significant

change, the plethora of combined

smaller changes such as the new

communications suite, ‘glass’ cockpit

and smart probes, will make the

aircraft easier to fly and to fix.”

As first operational squadron to

get its hands on the E-2D, VAW-125

was declared safe for flight in January

2014, and achieved initial operational

capability according to schedule in

October 2014.

The US Navy Program of Record

calls for a total of 75 E-2Ds to be

procured, to replace a current fleet of

62 legacy E-2Cs. As such, the March

2015 deployment was not only the

culmination of an intensive period of

test work, but the beginning of a new

era for the fleet at large. z

Thomas Newdick is an aviation and defense

writer based in Berlin

JOINT EFFORT

While VX-20 handled SDD testing,

operational testing has been the domain

of VX-1, using a combination of two pilot

production aircraft and two low-rate initial

production aircraft for initial operational

test and evaluation. The four aircraft

served as a detachment at Naval Air

Station Jacksonville, Florida, where they

arrived in January 2012.

The IOT&E was run as a joint program

between VX-1 and VAW-120. Their activities

included four weeks of evaluations aboard

the USS Enterprise. “VAW-120 acts as

a trusted agent for VX-1. Our job is to

determine how well the E-2D compares

with what the Navy asked for, and how it

operates in the real world as opposed to

a controlled test environment,” said VAW-

120’s LCdr Dave Champaigne at the time.

The team proved the functions of the E-2D

and its systems in large force, strike group,

air wing and joint exercises, and deployed

to different locations for flight test work.

Tests included involvement in air combat

training exercises at Nellis Air Force Base,

Nevada, during ‘Red Flag’, as well as a

Navy-led counter-UAS (unmanned aircraft

system) exercise at Naval Air Station Point

Mugu, California.

The test effort was officially concluded

in late 2012. Once VX-1 declared the E-2D

‘suitable and effective’, the way was clear

for the Defense Acquisition Board to

approve the aircraft for full-rate production

in January 2013. However, the spiral

development nature of the program means

that further modifications have since been

made to fine-tune the aircraft.

Next in line to get the E-2D was the Fleet

Replacement Squadron, VAW-120, charged

with training aircrews at Norfolk, Virginia.

VAW-120 received an initial four E-2Ds, the

first in 2010. Cdr Paul ‘Paulie’ Lanzilotta, the

commanding officer of VAW-120, explains the

effect of the spiral development path on his

unit’s work: “We are often updating [the

E-2Ds] with minor upgrades on an ongoing

basis, increasing reliability, sustainment, and

meeting regulatory conformance issues. In

the E-2D we have an onboard oxygen

generation system] and we do not have the

need to always be on oxygen, since we have

a pressurized cabin. However, we do test the

system every flight to keep it exercised.”

BELOW: The

E-2D Advanced

Hawkeye, which

features an entirely

new avionics suite

2,000

The number of targets that can

be tracked simultaneously

55

Time in years since first flight

of E-2 Hawkeye

8

Number of propellers on

upgraded E-2