The plan involved three separate areas: In 1959, the FAA had begun to replace the obsolete Douglas Skyraider AEW.1 with a version of the Fairey Gannet antisubmarine aircraft that had been modified into an AEW aircraft as the Fairey Gannet AEW.3.

[5] By the start of the 1960s it had begun to be superseded by more advanced systems, with the US Navy by then operating the Grumman E-1 Tracer with the AN/APS-82 radar, a development of the APS-20 that was ground stabilised and through its moveable antenna, could determine target height.

[6] Even this though was seen as an interim solution, the Grumman E-2 Hawkeye a new, purpose built aircraft with an advanced Pulse-Doppler radar was already in development.

[7] The plan was for the Frequency Modulated Interrupted Continuous Wave (FMICW) radar system to be installed with a scanner in the nose and one in the tail, giving it a bulbous appearance, which ended up being suspect in wind tunnel tests.

[7] The aircraft was also considered for the Carrier Onboard Delivery role, which would have seen the scanners removed, and the nose faired in, while the tail scanner was removed and replaced with a cone shaped freight door to give access to the internal space for freight or passengers.

Airborne Early Warning capability in the Royal Navy eventually had to pass to helicopters following the final decommissioning of HMS Ark Royal in 1978, as the subsequent Invincible class was incapable of operating conventional fixed wing aircraft.