Advertisement

E-2C Hawkeye
(click to view full)

Since the mid-2000s many aerospace companies have begun to look at outsourcing some supply work to India. Add Northrop Grumman Corporation to that list. The firm sent several teams to India in 2005 to survey the nation’s companies in search of potential new suppliers, and now they’ve signed an agreement with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL). In the short term, this will involve HAL in Northrop Grumman’s E-2 Hawkeye AWACS program by way of sourcing aircraft assemblies and components, digitization and other related services. The specific components are now being determined.

India has Phalcon AWACS aircraft on order from Israel, but as that country builds up its navy with carriers like the new INS Vikramaditya (ex-Admiral Gorshkov), a secondary land and naval market could open up for a carrier-capable plane like the Hawkeye. They are also valuable as a crisis command center in natural disasters, as shown recently in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and in more generic homeland defense roles like the drug interdiction mission. Hawkeye aircraft are currently in service with Egypt, France, Japan, Mexico (formerly Israel’s aircraft), Singapore, and Taiwan as well as the USA. India has reportedly expressed interest, and Northrop Grumman anticipates that the E-2 Hawkeye program will continue for 20 or more years. If so, HAL could wind up producing parts for well over 100 Hawkeye aircraft. Read corporate release.