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E-2D Advanced Hawkeye - Less than a year out.
- Thread starter snake020
- Start date
Just wanted to throw this thread in here, for folks who are looking at NFO and trying to figure out what platform they want to shoot for. The Navy's NexGen Airborne Command and Control platform, the E-2D, will be showing up at NAS Norfolk in less than a year. I'm currently serving as a member of the Fleet Intro Team, getting all the training ready for the FRS, and will begin training FRS instructors on this training beginning first quarter of 2011.
What this means is guys who are looking at OCS or commissioning programs that will be putting them in the training track around that timeframe will have a new aircraft to consider. The E-2D is NOT the E-2C. While the mission may be similar, the capabilities of the new radar along with all the other upgrades and enhancements to the aircraft systems will be night and day when compared to the E-2C.
I've noticed there's not a whole lot of info on the Hawkeye here...not surprising, as the large majority of us who ended up in the back of Hawkeyes, did not choose to be there. But I would suggest that you'll find many of us who are actually happy that things ended up the way they did. I'm one of those types, and would love to share more about the plane, the mission and the community with anyone who is looking for info!
Take care, and good luck!
What this means is guys who are looking at OCS or commissioning programs that will be putting them in the training track around that timeframe will have a new aircraft to consider. The E-2D is NOT the E-2C. While the mission may be similar, the capabilities of the new radar along with all the other upgrades and enhancements to the aircraft systems will be night and day when compared to the E-2C.
I've noticed there's not a whole lot of info on the Hawkeye here...not surprising, as the large majority of us who ended up in the back of Hawkeyes, did not choose to be there. But I would suggest that you'll find many of us who are actually happy that things ended up the way they did. I'm one of those types, and would love to share more about the plane, the mission and the community with anyone who is looking for info!
Take care, and good luck!
Why is that? I'm waiting to start Primary, so I'm still able to pretend like I have control of where I go. Could you elaborate a little?
For that matter, what IS the mission of the Hawkeye? You are right that there is not a lot of info, and I find myself not knowing the FO's job in there at all!
Absolutely. Bottomline is this...while hard work and excellence may secure you at the top of your class, which MAY allow you the choice of where you want to go...it also may not. Ultimately, you were commissioned into the U.S. Navy, and the U.S. Navy will decide where you serve, and what aircraft you serve in! Hopefully, when the time comes, your choice, and Navy's choice will match up!
Now, I'm not saying that folks never get their first choice! It happens all the time! But, sometimes, it doesn't...just keep that reality in mind, and you'll do fine.
Here's my sob story, though not really, since it has worked out for good! But anyways, I was number #1 in my Primary class, and I choose to stay in P'cola...didn't want to go P-3's. Well, I got that wish, as did everyone else in the class. A couple guys wanted P-3's, so they got them. The Navy wasn't hurting for P-3 guys, so no one got recruited.
Then into intermediate. I didn't do as well there, but was somewhere in the top half of my class. We had ten or eleven guys going through I-grad...well, we also had 2 E-2C slots. Man! Some classes didn't have any, and many had one, but getting multiples was the first problem. Well, one of our guys wanted E-2's...so he got them. That left the remaining slot. We weren't told who was getting it before grad...which was tough. As we all sat there, eyeing the folders, knowing the thin ones were jets and VT-86, and the thick ones were transfer orders to Norfolk and Hawkeyes...well, my name came up, and I got a thick folder.
I was crushed. I had it all planned out...was going to get jets, then Prowlers, then move back to Whidbey (where I was from) be around family, the whole deal. But it was not to be! Took a bit of time for me to suck it up and deal with it. But, hopefully you're going into this with the attitude that you'll do your best, wherever you end up...and eventually, I came back to that attitude too.
So, went up to Norfolk and did the Hawkeye FRS. Finished first in my class up there. That meant (supposedly) that I'd have the pick of squadron, or at a minimum, the coast upon which I'd be stationed. That was the party line, and what had worked for many people. Squadron pick time came, and I entered my choices. I didn't get a single squadron in my list. The Navy picked for me, despite all my efforts to secure my future. I wanted East Coast for personal reasons, I got West.
So...all I'm saying is, keep in mind that you volunteered to serve, and sometimes, that means going where the Navy wants you, not where you want to go!
Now, there are folks who DO choose the Hawkeye, and if I had the opportunity to do it all over again, I'd choose them today. I just didn't know that they would be my best fit...but two squadron tours, a tour at the Weapons School and now at the E-2D FIT...it's the right place for me.
What is the mission of the Hawkeye? Simply put, the Hawkeye is the Navy's Airborne Command and Control platform. In order to excel, a Hawkeye NFO needs to be a jack of all trades, with knowledge across all mission areas from Air Defense, Surface Warfare, Strike Warfare, Counter Narcotics, Military Support Operations, Airborne Battlefield Command and Control...the list goes on and on.
But if you really pressed me to put the job of a Hawkeye NFO into plain language...we'd be the head coach/offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator of the strike group. We are the managers of the war...as all parts serve together to accomplish the mission, the Strike Fighter guys shooting bad guys down and dropping bombs, the EW guys jamming and the ES guys working the SIGINT problem... the VAW guys take all the info from all those sources and manage the war, ensuring that commanders intent is being fulfilled and the mission is being accomplished in accordance with the over-arching goal.
Now, there's a big difference between what a Hawkeye guy trains to during workups, and how we're being employed real world right now. The E-2 is best utilized at the beginning of a campaign, when an established C2 network doesn't exist. Once the Air Force and Army have a ground footprint established, you see less need for the Hawkeye. But look at what VAW-115 did during the initial days of OIF, and you'll see the importance of the Hawkeye...a carrierborne command and control platform with highly trained operators, ready to execute commanders intent when the flag goes up!
And that is why our platform continues to live. The need for command and control specialists won't go down, regardless of platform...but with the advent and full funding of the E-2D, you can fully expect to be in a FLYING platform for many years to come...the fleet will be fully transitioned by 2024 or so. And trust me, the technology found in the D will allow us to do even more...the future of the Hawkeye community is very bright, and we need top guys coming into the program!
Now...is it a sexy aircraft? Well, most pilots and NFOs will tell you that whatever they fly in is sexy. I'm not one of them...I really don't get much enjoyment from the flying aspect of my job. That was one of the hardest things to deal with when I got them, the reality that not only was I not going to be a pilot (my eyes had gone too bad after college, and PRK wasn't authorized yet) but I wasn't even going to be able to have a canopy and really enjoy the flying aspect of the job! The view in the back is terrrible...just a little portal to look out of sideways, and they're on the right side of the aircraft, so we can't even see the boat when we're in marshall...heck, even the pilots have a terrible field of view compared to any other platform!
But...I still enjoy flying around the boat. Flying off the carrier is something unique, and it really does't matter too much what platform you're in. But living on and operating around the carrier is sweet, even in the Hawkeye. And yes, I put my life in my pilot's hands every time we launch and recover, moreso than anyone else on the boat, since I don't have a little black and yellow handle to pull. Either we're all safe or we're all wet/dead. It's a team aircraft
And that's the best part of the community. You have a squadron of around 25 aircrew, and you work together to accomplish the mission. Years ago, it was very much an us and them mentality between pilots and NFOs; NFOs did the mission, and pilots were the bus drivers. But that mentality is changing as technology allows the pilots to get more involved and the missions demand more from them in order to maximize the effectiveness of the crew. You really get to know each other well, and it makes for some fun flights when you've got down time in the plane.
Anyways...I could go on and on, obviously. But I hope this give you some idea or an answer to your question. Please feel free to ask more if you have some!
Well, that was certainly an avalanche of information! Thanks for the VERY detailed post!
Its becoming very clear that I'll be happy wherever I go in the fleet (the ever-mysterious 'fleet' that they keep telling us students about), and especially since it seems like every platform is getting some sort of a facelift either now or in the immediate future; P-3s upgrading to P-8s, adding to the Hornet alphabet soup, Growlers, E-2Ds and so on... it sounds like I'm getting in at a really good time, regardless of where I end up.
MasterBates
Well-Known Member
There is stuff AFT of the MEH???!!!
The piss tube is now located on the MEH door in the -D. Never be the first one to grab the handle, or you may get a suprise. Makes a nice yellow "tennessee pinstripe" down the side of the aircraft.
It'd be fantasitic to get this info out at the Primary/Intermediate squadrons. E-2's are still hard to fill here and a lot of it has to do with the mystery of the mission. We only have a couple of E-2 folks here and only one is a FO. I'd really like to get the word out on the "D" as I believe it's a great FO job.
I get the P-3's to come over every now and then, and there was a Hawkeye here a week ago, but it would be great to have a short presentation to the masses from a FIT guy.
Fwiw, my squadron would "host" you in finest Pensacola fashion.
Hoze
I get the P-3's to come over every now and then, and there was a Hawkeye here a week ago, but it would be great to have a short presentation to the masses from a FIT guy.
Fwiw, my squadron would "host" you in finest Pensacola fashion.
Hoze
^^^Second what Hozer said. It was nice to see the static E-2 here, but the two RAG studs who gave us the tour didn't seem to know that much more about the platform/mission set than I do. Hearing about the D from someone who knows would be really great, especially since my class has selection coming up pretty soon.
MasterBates
Well-Known Member
Can I scheme being the pilot on one of those, if we are going to be there on a Friday?
(Can I fly in my AWGs? That would be a way to r roll into the club.. Take off vest/harness, grab jacket out of bag, roll in to club in AWGs I have flown in).
(Can I fly in my AWGs? That would be a way to r roll into the club.. Take off vest/harness, grab jacket out of bag, roll in to club in AWGs I have flown in).