Northrop Grumman hopes to receive approval by June to begin low-rate initial production of the Increased Capability III (ICAP III) electronic warfare upgrade of the EA-6B Prowler.
But with full-scale development of the Boeing EA-18G due next year, the US Navy plans to modernise only sufficient aircraft to bridge the gap and sustain the US Marine Corps until 2015.
The USN has completed the ICAP III operational assessment, flying twice as many flights in half the planned time. The two development aircraft enter technical evaluation this month, with operational evaluation later this year.
There are 121 EA-6Bs in service, but "you're not going to do all the aircraft if you have a follow-on jammer", says Doug Swoish, Northrop Grumman's programme director, electronic warfare. Instead, the company expects to upgrade 10 or 12 Prowlers a year until 2007. The first ICAP III-equipped squadron is due to stand up in 2005.
Plans call for the ICAP III suite of selective reactive jammers to migrate to the EA-18G from 2009. The EA-18G will go to the USN only with the priority to replace carrier-borne EA-6Bs. The ICAP III aircraft will then probably cascade to the USMC, which plans to run a small fleet of 20-plus aircraft until 2015.
Source: Flight International