Northrop Grumman unveils E-XX TACAMO teammates

The US Navy’s E-6B Mercury strategic command aircraft. (US Navy)

Northrop Grumman, which is vying to provide the US Navy’s E-XX Take Charge and Move Out (TACAMO) strategic command aircraft, recently announced that its team includes Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, Raytheon Intelligence & Space, Crescent Systems Inc, and Long Wave Inc.

“Our team has put a lot of work into the initial plans and designs,” drawing on its extensive experience in developing weapon systems, Henry Cyr, director for multidomain command-and-control (C2) capture programmes at Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems, told Janes on 17 April. That experience includes Northrop Grumman being the longtime prime contractor for the navy’s E-2D Advanced Hawkeye tactical C2 aircraft.

Northrop Grumman, which made the teammate announcement on 3 April at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space 2023 conference in National Harbor, Maryland, is offering a modified Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules aircraft for the E-XX, which will enable the US president to communicate with the navy’s nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines. The navy intends to field nine E-XX aircraft to replace its ageing fleet of 16 E-6B Mercury aircraft.