$256M to N-G for E-10A

E-10 M2CA Concept(click to view full) Northrop Grumman Corporation recently received a $256 million contract for the E-10A Multi-Sensor Command and Control aircraft (MC2) from USAir Force Material Command’s Electronic Systems Center at Hanscom Air Force Base, MA. The contract covers design and analysis of the E-10A Technology Development Program (TDP) through Initial Design Review, which is scheduled for May 2007. See Northrop Grumman release. So, what’s an E-10? For that matter, what’s an Initial Design Review all about? DID has answers… The future E-10A aircraft is envisaged as a successor to both the E-3 AWACS air surveillance and E-8 JSTARS ground surveillance planes. British E-3D AWACS(click to view full) The E-10’s radars are usually depicted on a Boeing 767 jet, but in practice the platform will probably be whichever aircraft is selected for the USAF’s top-priority aerial fuel tanker program. This dual-duty approach provides flexibility, but also invites potential shortages and overuse unless the system can be procured in sufficient numbers or supplemented with less expensive options (see “Brittle Swords: Low-Density, High-Demand Assets” [42k, PDF] for a deeper discussion). The E-10A TDP effort contracted here is focused on integrating Northrop Grumman’s Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program (MP-RTIP) radar and […]