Balloons! Balloons to you all!

Your all talking balloons! Thats the way to do a carrier based UAV radar platform.

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/usa-spotlights-uav-and-radar-as-it-aims-to-strengthen-air-defences-160857/

"cheaper alternatives to manned airborne early warning aircraft include unmanned tethered balloons, as used by the US Customs Service (USCS) on the Mexican border to detect drug smugglers. "

(don't tell me a pilot can't navigate around the balloon)

And then we also have what looks to be the "relativley" cheap space radar:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15899186

Bung a few of those in space and you have 24/7 planet wide radar!

So, why bother with an E2C Hawkeye?