Grumman E-2B Hawkeye
The reliability fix — E-2As rebuilt with a Litton L-304 digital computer in place of the troublesome drum unit · First flight 1969 · In service 1970
The E-2A's mission system had proved unreliable in service, and its rotating-drum computer was the main culprit. The E-2B answered this by replacing it with a Litton L-304 general-purpose digital computer and renewing much of the avionics. The first E-2B flew on 20 February 1969 and conversions entered fleet service from 1970; around 50 of the 59 E-2As were rebuilt to the new standard.
Outwardly the E-2B looked almost identical to the E-2A, keeping the folding wing, four-fin tail and rotodome. It carried the Navy's carrier early-warning mission through the 1970s, deploying with air wings in the Pacific and Atlantic, until the much more capable E-2C took over.
As E-2Cs arrived, E-2Bs passed to Naval Air Reserve squadrons, which flew them into the early 1980s, including from NAS Keflavik in Iceland.
