The US. Navy has long sought for the delivery of high priority personnel and freight to carries at sea, and this carrier onboard delivery requirement was fulfilled from the late 1950s by the TF-1 (later) C-1 Trader adaptation of the Grumman S2F (later) S-2 Tracker. The advent of the turboprop power Grumman E-1 Hawkeye open the way for more capable COD type, and in November 1964 the first of two YC-2A prototypes converted from E-2As took to the air. The followed 19 C-2A production aircraft. These retained the E-2s wings and a revised version of its tail unit in combination with a new fuselage of considerably greater cross section containing a pressurized hold accessed by a rear ramp door arrangement. By the early 1970s attrition had reduced C-2A numbers to about a dozen, and in November 1982 the Navy finally decided to reinstate  greyhound production with an order for 39 more aircraft delivered between 1985 and the end of the 1980. The delivery of these aircraft allowed the C-1 to be retired.