US Navy's transition from Prowlers to Growlers proceeding smoothly

The second day of our Boeing media trip to the Pacific\nNorthwest found our motley band of defense reporters at Naval Air Station\nWhidbey Island, near Oak Harbor, Washington.

The base is in the midst of a transition from the venerable,\nbut still capable, Northrop Grumman EA-6B Prowler electronic attack aircraft to\nthe new Boeing EA-18G Growler--which is based on the proven Boeing F/A-18F Block\nII Super Hornet. \n\n

Basically, the US Navy and Boeing ported over the guts of\nthe latest ICAP III version of the Prowler into the Super Hornet\nairframe--which, with the addition of an interference cancellation system (it\nallows Growler crews to communicate while jamming) and a vastly improved\nman-machine interface (and a few other improvements) resulted in the Growler.

The Growler, even with its two-man crew versus the four-man\ncrew of the Prowler, offers vastly improved performance over the older machine,\nsays Commander Chris Middleton, commander of the VAQ-129--the Prowler and\nGrowler schoolhouse (Fleet Replenishment Squadron if you want get all formal\nabout it). That's partly due to the Super Hornet's airframe qualities--such as\nspeed, air-to-air capability (It retains the F/A-18E/F's AIM-120 AMRAAM--aka\nthe Slammer--capability but not AIM-9X capability, though it does still retain\ndual JHMCS capability. It also it has no M61 20mm cannon), and Raytheon APG-79\nactive electronically scanned array (AESA) radar. But the EA-18G is also networked\nand has far better automated cockpit systems. That affords the pilot and naval\nflight officer in the back the ability sort through more targets with far\ngreater confidence in the information gathered--and they can share it,\nMiddleton says.\n\n

Nonetheless, the Growler still uses the Prowler's ALQ-99\njammer pods, which are from a bygone era. Eventually, Next Generation Jammer\n(NGJ) pods will replace the ALQ-99 toward the end of the decade. It will\nfeature active electronically scanned array antennas and, most likely, a\nlighter, more aerodynamically shaped pod. Potentially, the NGJ could allow the\njet to fly supersonically with the pods attached. Currently, the ALQ-99 limits\nthe EA-18G to Mach 0.95--however, the actual jamming mission is likely to still\nbe flown at Mach 0.95 according to Navy sources. Also, the NGJ will only\nreplace the mid-band ALQ-99 jammers; the ALQ-99's low-band jammer is actually\nin production and is relatively new.

 Right now, VAQ-129 has 41 EA-18Gs, with more arriving every\nmonth. The unit fluctuates between 41 and 43 Growlers. The squadron also has\n9-10 Prowlers on the ramp at any given time. By April 2014, VAQ-129 will stop\nproducing new Prowler aircrews and that mission will shift to the US Marine\nCorps at MCAS Cherry Point, North Carolina. Until then, the unit will do both\nmissions.

 Whidbey Island has a total of 79 Growlers at the moment. However,\nit will eventually have 114 of the new jets in 13 squadrons (each with five\njets)--three of them land-based expeditionary squadrons supporting the US Air\nForce.  Incidentally, there are\nUSAF crews flying alongside their USN and USMC brethren at Whidbey... Middleton\nsays those crews are fully integrated into their operations and could even\ndeploy with a USN squadron on a carrier. It's already happened, he says.

Unfortunately, the NAS Whidbey Island leadership was\nextremely leery of allowing photography or videos to be taken. The only\naircraft we were allowed to photograph was inside the hangar and completely\nbuttoned up... We did see the cockpit, and it is identical to the Block II Super\nHornet I flew at Farnborough earlier in the year. But alas, we couldn't film flight\noperations on the ramp, which were fairly impressive.

Incidentally, while we were at Whidbey--primarily for the\nGrowlers, the base also flies the Lockheed Martin P-3C Orion. Those aircraft\nwill soon be replaced by the new Boeing P-8 Poseidon aircraft, based on the 737\nairliner.  It's also slated to receive\nthe Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft--better known as the Broad\nArea Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) program, which is based on the Global Hawk. \n\n\n