The E2-C Hawkeye 2000 will soon become the first U.S. military aircraft equipped with the new Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC) system.

The system, already operational in some of the U.S. Navy's surface ships, will play a key role in integrating and networking the information systems of military forces. This concept, known as Network Centric Warfare (NCW), is the conduct of warfare using networked information resources.

The CEC is a vital component of NCW because of its ability to enable surface ships and aircraft to share data with one another using the information systems each already has on board.

At NAVAIR Patuxent River, the Hawkeye 2000 recently flew several events that focused on the integration of the CEC with E2-C weapons systems. The major goal of this round of testing is evaluation of the interoperability between CEC and data links.

Additional testing will continue at Patuxent River. NAVAIR expects to turn over the system to VAW 117 when they deploy with the Nimitz Battle Group later this year.