The continuous improvements in early airborne radars by 1956 led to the concept of an airborne early warning and command
and control aircraft. The first aircraft to perform this mission was the Grumman E-1 Tracer (a variant of the S-2 Tracker anti-submarine aircraft),
which saw service from 1954 to 1964. The E-1's successor, the E-2 Hawkeye, was the first carrier-based aircraft designed from the outset
for the all-weather airborne early warning and command and control function. Since replacing the E-1 in 1964, the Hawkeye has been the
"eyes of the fleet." Since its combat debut during the Vietnam conflict, the E-2 has served the Navy around the world. Hawkeyes directed
F-14 Tomcat fighters flying combat air patrol during the two-carrier battle group joint strike against terrorist-related Libyan targets in
1986. E-2Cs and AEGIS cruisers, working together, provided total air mass superiority over the American fleet. More recently, E-2Cs provided
the command and control for successful operations during the Persian Gulf War, directing both land attack and combat air patrol missions over
Iraq and providing control for the shoot-down of two Iraqi MIG-21 aircraft by carrier-based F/A-18s in the early days of the war. E-2 aircraft
also have worked extremely effectively with U.S. law enforcement agencies in drug interdictions. The newest version of the Hawkeye, the E-2C,
became operation in 1973.