What a Naval Flight Officer does aboard the E-2

Anyone who writes procedures, training, or software for the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye needs to know who sits in the crew and what the Navy calls them. A Naval Flight Officer (NFO) is a Navy aviation officer who crews an aircraft without being its pilot. The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) describes a full E-2D crew as two pilots and three flight officers, and the Navy's career page describes NFO duties in general as navigation and the electronic detection and tracking of ships, submarines, aircraft, and missiles.

The Naval Flight Officer role

The Navy's recruiting site opens its Naval Flight Officer page by saying that pilots are not the only officers behind naval aircraft. It calls NFOs "the navigators, the lookouts and the weapon operators" of naval aviation.

The page lists three responsibilities. NFOs study aerodynamics, aircraft engine systems, meteorology, navigation, flight planning, and flight safety. They train and specialize in one of several aircraft, a list that includes the E-2C Hawkeye. And they electronically detect and track ships, submarines, aircraft, and missiles. Assignments can be anywhere in the world, from carrier battle groups and other sea-based platforms to shore stations.

The description spans several aircraft types and lists the E-2C, not the later E-2D variant, so it defines the NFO role in general and assigns no duties to a seat in the E-2 crew.

The E-2 and its five-person crew

The Navy's E-2 fact file, last updated September 17, 2021, describes the Hawkeye as an all-weather, carrier-based aircraft for airborne early warning and command and control, with a crew of five. The file calls the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye the newest variant, replacing the E-2C, and says the E-2D reached initial operational capability in October 2014.

NAVAIR's E-2D product page gives the crew breakdown: two pilots and three mission systems operators, with the option for the co-pilot to act as a fourth mission systems operator. The page credits the glass cockpit and a tactical fourth operator display with giving the five-person crew more flexibility.

Two other NAVAIR articles use the NFO title for the non-pilot side:

• A March 13, 2015 article on the E-2D's first deployment says the digital cockpit display lets the co-pilot assist in performing many of the duties of the crew's Naval Flight Officers.
• An April 14, 2021 article on aircrew trainers describes a full E-2D crew of two pilots and three flight officers, and says the trainers are for carrier airborne early warning pilots and naval flight officers.

The product page says mission systems operators and the articles say flight officers. None of the pages names the individual seats.

The path to the E-2

The Navy recruiting page describes the first steps. Candidates attend Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island, then a six-week air indoctrination course at Naval Aviation Schools Command in Pensacola, Florida. Flight training follows in primary, intermediate, and advanced phases. Graduates receive their "wings of gold" and report to a fleet replacement squadron for training specific to their aircraft.

The Chief of Naval Air Training (CNATRA) describes the pipeline for the E-2 in more detail. CNATRA's NFO page lays out four NFO pipelines, one of which is airborne early warning (AEW), the pipeline that leads to the E-2. All four are taught at Training Air Wing Six at Naval Air Station Pensacola. The AEW steps are:

1. Every NFO begins primary training in the T-6A Texan II at squadron VT-10, learning basic aviation skills, visual and instrument navigation, and communications.
2. Carrier-based students, which includes AEW, receive additional T-6A training.
3. AEW students then go to squadron VT-4 for advanced training on the Multi Crew Simulator, where training centers on crew resource management, communications, and sensor use.
4. AEW students learn command and control and air intercept control.
5. After graduation they move on to squadron VAW-120 in Norfolk, Virginia, for training in the E-2C or E-2D.

The CNATRA page is undated and lists the E-2C beside the E-2D.

What to check

• Does the source call the non-pilot crew mission systems operators (the NAVAIR product page) or flight officers (the April 2021 article), and does the document keep the title it started with?
• Does the document assign duties to named seats? None of the cited Navy pages names them.
• Is the description of NFO duties the general one on the career page, which lists the E-2C, or one written for the E-2?
• Which aircraft does the training source name, the E-2C, the E-2D, or both, and how old is the source? The CNATRA page is undated.

Azcuna's ELLMENT, the E-2D Large Language Model Entity, was proposed to NAVAIR PMA-231 under Navy SBIR Phase I topic DON26BZ01-NV010. The prototype, built at private expense on publicly available doctrine, answers with a page-level citation and refuses when the documents do not support an answer. The proposal has been submitted.

Sources

1. 1Naval Flight Officer · U.S. Navy (Navy Recruiting Command, Navy.com)
2. 2E-2 Hawkeye Airborne Command and Control Aircraft · U.S. Navy
3. 3E-2D Advanced Hawkeye (AHE) · Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR)
4. 4Advanced Hawkeye makes maiden deployment on Theodore Roosevelt · Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), PEO(T) Public Affairs (March 13, 2015)
5. 5First aircrew E-2D DSSC-3 training devices ready for fleet · Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) (April 14, 2021)
6. 6Naval Flight Officer (NFO) · Chief of Naval Air Training (CNATRA)