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EA-6 Prowler

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EA-6B Prowler
250px
A U.S. Navy EA-6B Prowler
Type Electronic attack
Manufacturer Northrop Grumman Aerospace
Maiden flight 25 May 1968
Introduced July 1971
Primary users United States Navy
United States Marine Corps
Developed from A-6 Intruder

The EA-6B Prowler is a twin-engine, mid-wing aircraft manufactured by Northrop Grumman Aerospace Corporation as a modification of the basic A-6 Intruder airframe.

Contents

[edit] Mission

Designed for carrier and advanced base operations, the Prowler is a fully integrated electronic warfare system combining long-range, all-weather capabilities with advanced electronic countermeasures. A forward equipment bay and pod-shaped faring on the vertical fin house the additional avionics equipment. It is the United States Navy's and the United States Marine Corps's primary electronic warfare aircraft. The primary mission of the aircraft is to support strike aircraft and ground troops by interrupting enemy electronic activity and obtaining tactical electronic intelligence within a combat area.

Since the retirement of the EF-111A Raven in 1995, it is the only aerial radar jammer in the DOD arsenal. It has been utilized in practically every US combat operation and is frequently flown in support of the US Air Force. The increased usage has shortened the airframes' lifetimes and the USN's aircraft are slated to be replaced by the EA-18G Growler.

[edit] Development

The Prowler has a crew of four, a pilot and three Electronic Counter-measures Officers (known as ECMOs). Powered by two non-afterburning Pratt & Whitney J52-P408 turbojet engines, it is capable of speeds of up to 950 km/h with a range of 1,840 kilometers. Since EW operations are very demanding, the Prowler is a high-maintenance aircraft and also undergoes more frequent equipment upgrades than any other aircraft in the Navy.

Design particulars include the refueling probe being asymmetrical, appearing bent to the right; it contains an antenna near its root. The canopy has a shading of gold not for sunlight but to protect the crew against the radio emissions that the electronic warfare equipment produces.

Although designed as an electronic escort and command and control platform for strike missions, the EA-6B is also capable of attacking surface targets on its own, especially radars, SAM launchers, and other enemy defenses. The AGM-88 HARM (High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile) is the main offensive strike weapon of the Prowler. In addition, the aircraft is highly capable of conducting electronic intelligence (ELINT) collection.

Image:EA-6A Intruder over Cherry Point.jpg An earlier EA-6A "Electric Intruder" was developed during the Vietnam War. Basically a straightforward conversion of the standard two-seat A-6 airframe fitted with EW equipment, it was essentially an interim aircraft used only by a few USMC squadrons.

The much more advanced and substantially redesigned EA-6B first flew on May 25, 1968 and entered service with VAQ-132 'Scorpions' in July 1971. The squadron deployed in April of 1972 and returned in April of 1973. The first combat mission of the EA-6B was flown in Vietnam by Commander Everett F. "Rosie" Rollins, the squadron commanding officer.[citation needed]

During 1993-1994, an Advanced Capability EA-6B (ADVCAP) prototype was tested with excellent results but was later dropped due to budget restrictions. ADVCAP featured enhanced lift and maneuvering capabilities that originated from a Navy requested research program at NASA's Langley Research Center. This research program was initiated to solve maneuverability problems that resulted in aircraft accident rates in the early 1980s that almost three times higher than all other Navy and Marine aircraft combined.<ref>NASA Langley. Grumman EA-6B Prowler.</ref>

Image:EA-6B Prowler takes off from Eielson AFB.jpg

About 125 Prowlers remain today, divided between 12 Navy, 4 Marine, and 3 joint Navy-Air Force squadrons. When the US Air Force retired the EF-111A Raven, an aircraft similar in mission to the EA-6B, because of budget cuts the Navy agreed to share with it a number of "expeditionary" Prowler squadrons composed of Navy and USAF personnel. The Prowler is unaffectionately known as the "Queer", a nickname derived from the "Q" in Prowler squadrons' "VAQ" designation as opposed to the A-6 Intruder squadrons' "VA" designation, thus making the Prowler a "Queer A-6."

Though it remains in service today, the EA-6B Prowler is slated to be replaced after 2009 by the EA-18G Growler, a new electronic warfare derivative of the F/A-18F Super Hornet. The majority of EA-6B squadrons are primarily homeported at Naval Air Station (NAS) Whidbey Island, located in northwest Washington. However, Marine EA-6B squadrons are located at Cherry Point, North Carolina, VAQ-136 is stationed at Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Japan, and VAQ-209, a Navy Reserves squadron, is stationed at NAF Washington, DC.

[edit] Units using the EA-6B

Image:EA-6B Prowler from VAQ-138.jpg

[edit] USN squadrons

[edit] USMC squadrons

[edit] Incidents

  • It was an USMC EA-6B Prowler that caused the Cavalese cable-car disaster in 1998, cutting the cables of a ski-lift in Italy and killing 20.
  • In 1981 an EA-6B crashed onto the flight deck of the USS Nimitz and caused a blaze, killing the flight crew and several deck personnel.
  • The latest incident occurred March 3, 2006 near Pendleton, Oregon, USA.
  • Despite the fact that to date no Prowler has ever been lost in combat, about forty were destroyed in various accidents.


[edit] Specifications (EA-6B)

Image:GRUMMAN EA-6 PROWLER.png

Image:EA-6B Prowlers supporting Northern Watch.jpg Image:EA-6B Prowler supporting Joint Endeavor from CVN-73.jpg

Data from US Navy Fact File<ref> EA-6B Prowler electronic warfare aircraft. US Navy Fact File (August 5, 2003).</ref>

General characteristics<h3>
  • Crew: four (one pilot, three electronic countermeasures officers)
  • Length: 59 ft 10 in (17.7 m)
  • Wingspan: 53 ft (15.9 m)
  • Height: 16 ft 8 in (4.9 m)
  • Wing area: 528.9 ft² (49.1 m²)
  • Empty weight: 34,000 lb (15,450 kg)
  • Loaded weight: lb (kg)
  • Useful load: lb (kg)
  • Max takeoff weight: 61,500 lb (27,500 kg)
  • Powerplant: 2× Pratt & Whitney J52-P408A turbojet, 10,400 lbf (46 kN) each

<h3>Performance<h3>

<h3>Armament<h3>

  • Up to 4 AGM-88 HARM antiradar missiles
  • Up to 5 ALQ-99 Tactical Jamming System (TJS) external pods
  • Up to 5 300 gallon external drop tanks

<h3>Avionics<h3>

  • ALQ-99 on board receiver (OBS), ALQ-99 pod mounted jamming system (TJS)
  • USQ-113 communications jamming system
  • </ul>


[edit] References

<references/>

[edit] External links

[edit] Related content

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Related development<h3>

<h3>Comparable aircraft<h3>

<h3>Related lists<h3>

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