E-2D Hits IOC; Navy Hawkeye Gets Larger, Lethal Role

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http://breakingdefense.com/2014/10/e-2d-hits-ioc-navy-hawkeyes-larger-more-lethal-role/

http://breakingdefense.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2014/10/E2-D-Advanced-Hawkeye-@-Norfolk-left-front-IMG_0024-1024x768.jpg

E-2D Hits IOC; Navy Hawkeye Gets Larger, Lethal Role
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. on October 17, 2014 at 4:22 PM

NORFOLK: The famed “eyes of the fleet” are getting sharper. The Navy has declared the latest variant, the E-2D radar plane, ready for real-world operations just in time for the 50th anniversary of the original E-2 Hawkeye. The first five-plane squadron will deploy on the USS Theodore Roosevelt next year. Meanwhile, the current E-2C models are playing an essential role in the Middle East, launching from the USS George Bush to serve as flying command posts and air traffic control for the ongoing strikes against the self-proclaimed Islamic State.

“The CAG (Carrier Air Group) and the admiral would not go into harm’s way without an E-2,” said Capt. Drew Basden, commodore of the Navy’s Hawkeye force, “and that’s an E-2C.” While almost indistinguishable to the eye, the new E-2D version brings a much more powerful and discriminating radar — so much so, Basden told reporters visiting here, that the D may eventually do ballistic missile defense. That remark is one clue among many that the Navy wants the Advanced Hawkeye not just to do the current E-2C’s job better, as critical as it is, but to play a larger role.
Capt. Drew Basden

Capt. Drew Basden

One sign of that larger role is simply a larger squadron: There’ll be five Ds aboard each carrier instead of the current four Cs. That squadron size, in turn, helps drive Navy plans to buy 75 of the $150 million Advanced Hawkeyes, more than the maximum number of Cs ever in service. (Only 52 “Charlies” remain today due to aging and accidents). Five planes per carrier is still probably not enough to keep one in the air at all times, but it will allow more constant coverage. An E-2D can stay aloft about five hours at a time on its own fuel, but in August the Navy completed the preliminary design review for an upgrade to allow mid-air refueling, something no Hawkeye has ever had.

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75 x $150,000,000 = $11,250,000,000

Assuming (ass/u/me) these things cost $150 million dollars, this is 'only' another eleven and one half billion dollars.