RoCAF E-2K Hawkeye will not be repaired

On 25 November 2022 at 11:08 hrs LT, a Chung-Hua Min Guo Kong Jun (RoCAF, Republic of China Air Force) E-2K Hawkeye made an emergency landing at its home base Pingtung South Air Base.

The Hawkeye, serial 2503, was on a routine mission and when the aircraft returned to Pingtung, its landing gear failed to deploy, resulting in a belly landing before it skidded off the tarmac. The accident, in which nobody was injured, caused serious damage to the aircraft's sophisticated electronic systems.

It is reported that the aircraft was training a simulation of a landing gear malfunction. However, when finally landing the aircraft, the pilots forgot to lower the landing gear.

Strikingly, the very same Hawkeye had a similar accident on 20 March 1997. The aircraft was sent back to the US, but could only be repaired with a new fuselage, originally intended for the US Navy.

After further investigations, the RoCAF decided against carrying out expensive repairs to the aircraft and to use the damaged aircraft as an instructional airframe and for spare parts, though the Ministry of National Defense still had to give its approval.

In November 1995, Taiwan acquired four E-2T Hawkeye tactical airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft from the US. In 2004, an additional two aircraft were acquired, which had the Hawkeye 2000 configuration. The earlier four aircraft were later upgraded to Hawkeye 2000 configuration as well. All six aircraft are referred as E-2K and are operated by the 2nd Early Warning Squadron, which is part of 6th Tactical/Early Warning Wing.

Photo by Tsungfang Tsai