An E-2D Hawkeye from the "Seahawks" of Airborne Command and Control Squadron (VAW) 126 lands on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) during flight operations in the Atlantic Ocean in August.
Teams wrap DSS6-6 update preliminary review
The fleet is one step closer to significant improvements for the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye following a recent Delta System Software Configuration (DSSC)-6 Preliminary Design Review (PDR) with the E-2/C-2 Airborne Command & Control Systems Program Office (PMA-231) and industry partner Northrop Grumman.
The DSSC-6 configuration will improve the aircraft significantly by reducing pilot workload, enhanced situational awareness, and bringing vital readiness and reliability upgrades paired with architecture and cybersecurity improvements.
“Successful completion of the E-2D DSSC-6 PDR is an affirmation of the ground-breaking work undertaken by the combined PMA-231 and NGC teams,” said Lt. Cmdr. Neil Whitesell, PMA-231 level 2 program manager for DSSC-6. “It represents a major programmatic milestone in the acquisition of technology key to maintaining carrier-based airborne command and control dominance well into the next decade.”
During the PDR, the group assessed the allocated E-2D DSSC-6 program baseline and transitioned into a detailed DSSC-6 design.
The E-2D DSSC-6 PDR was briefed to a 10-member technical review board, co-chaired by Gary Evans, NAWCAD Systems Engineering director, and Hin Chan, NAWCAD Software Engineering director. According to Evans, the E-2D DSSC-6 team is “leading Naval Aviation” in transforming a franchise platform architecture to take advantage of the advent of digital engineering.
During the review, the combined government and industry teams completed request-for-action forms to capture actions that are collaboratively managed by the combined DSSC-6 teams. These actions will enable a mature and robust system design through the detailed design phase that will be assessed at the critical design review scheduled for next fiscal year.
With these upgrades, this configuration will provide avionics infrastructure improvements to flight and mission systems. These improvements increase crew effectiveness, address parts obsolescence, add improved computing and electronic storage, improve connectivity for command and control and create a modular open systems environment for future technology insertion.
The first test flight of an E-2D with this configuration is scheduled for fiscal year 2027, with initial operational capability scheduled for fiscal year 2030.