The American aerospace and defence tech company Northrop Grumman Corporation is eager to do business with the Indian armed forces and has offered its all-weather airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft to the Indian Navy.

Andrew Tyler, Chief Executive (Europe), Northrop Grumman, said the company was keen on developing its presence in India through strategic industrial partnerships.

Existing ties

Speaking at a recent event in Goa on ‘Make in India’ possibilities for defence and aviation, Tyler said the company has been supporting India in a variety of defence and civil applications, including air traffic control communications systems and radars, unmanned ground vehicles for the Indian Army, and marine navigation systems for the Indian Navy.

India has a vast coastline, which needs better surveillance and reconnaissance capability, and the E-2D has been designed to meet current requirements. Among other things, the next-generation E-2D Advanced Hawkeye has a new radar system, theatre missile defence capabilities, and multi-sensor integration.

The E-2D Advanced Hawkeye is reportedly the world’s only aircraft specifically designed as a carrier-based AEW&C system. Its structurally distinctive design, which has a rotating rotodome, helps provide 360-degree surveillance.

Contracts

Northrop Grumman, which has been termed the fifth largest defence contractor in the world, was last year awarded a $3.6 billion multi-year contract to deliver 25 new E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft to the US Navy.

Sources indicated that the company has been in talks with the Indian Navy for some time to supply the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye for its future aircraft carriers.

The US State Department has recently approved the sale of four E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft to Japan.

(The writer was in Goa at the invitation of Global Business Forum)

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