»Northrop Grumman Reveals First Advanced Hawkeye Fuselage
~ E-2Ds reflect new manufacturing techniques to build structure that underlies Hawkeye family look
~ when Northrop Grumman was awarded system development and demonstration contract for Advanced Hawkeye,
~ company chose to change its manufacturing approach
~ engineers created a virtual design environment that integrated engineering team in Bethpage with the manufacturing team in St. Augustine
~ they then began to re-engineer structure, beginning with single detail parts
~ in previous Hawkeye platforms, individual sheet-metal components were basis for all structural assemblies
~ for E-2D, a number of substructures were re-designed as machined components,
~ eliminating significant numbers of detail parts and improving production process
»Northrop Grumman