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The air attack threat posed to the fleet during World War II, especially the kamikaze, convinced the Navy to pursue airborne early warning radars to extend the radar horizon, and give the fleet greater warning time of incoming raids.

By the late 1950s, the Grumman E-1B Tracer, based on the Grumman S-2 Tracker anti-submarine airframe, entered service. It mounted an APS-82 radar above the fuselage, and the plane and its radar were valuable additions to the fleets security.

But the E-1B was clearly only an interim aircraft. First, its piston engines limited its performance, which in turn reduced the  radar horizon. Second, the relatively small size of the airframe limited it to only two radar officers. Third, and most importantly, the E-1B could not interface with the then new Navy Tactical Data System, which severely limited its ability to assist in management of the defense picture.

As a result of these limitations, the Navy and Grumman worked together to design an entirely new aircraft that would be bigger, more powerful, and capable of working with NTDS. The result was the Grumman E-2A Hawkeye, which entered squadron service in 1964.

The basic E-2C concept has been highly successful, and improvements in the airframe, engines, radars, and electronics has served the Hawkeye well, and today the E-2D model is in service, and expected to remain so for many years.