The ability to maintain electromagnetic superiority is important enough that the Marine Corps maintains Electronic Warfare as one of its six functions of Marine Aviation. The EA-6B Prowler is the only aircraft the Marine Corps has that is capable of fulfilling this mission. With the Prowler nearing the end of its projected service life and no follow-on platform having been identified, the Marine Corps will lose a valuable aviation capability with the demise of the Prowler. With the decision by the Air Force to retire the EF-111 Raven in 1996, the Prowler now has the distinction of being the only tactical radar jamming aircraft in the United States' inventory. The Air Force gave the entire responsibility of airborne electronic attack (EA) to the Navy and Marine Corps when that decision was made. Having this distinction bestowed on a 1970s vintage aircraft that is no longer in production, the Pentagon's Joint Staff has placed the EA-6B on a list of specialized military resources that are considered to be 'low density, high-demand' (LD/HD) assets. The Department of the Navy currently maintains a total of 122 EA-6Bs. Of these 122 aircraft, the Marine Corps operates approximately 20 Prowlers in four Fixed Wing Tactical Electronic Warfare squadrons. Current Navy plans call for the EA-6Bs to last until 2015, but recent DoD estimates indicate that the inventory will reach critical shortages as early as 2009 due to aging airframes and attrition. To address the predicted shortfall of EW assets beyond 2010, the Navy is considering replacing its Prowlers with the EW variant of the Super Hornet (F/A- 18E/F) known as the EA-18 Growler. The Marine Corps, however, is reluctant to pursue a non-STOVL capable aircraft and has not identified a follow-on platform to replace the fleet of aging EA-6Bs. A study was funded in FY2001 known as the Electronic Attack Analysis of Alternatives (AOA). The AOA identified 27 different EA platforms as possible replacements for the Prowler.
Options for an EA-6B Replacement
2002
9 pages
Report
Keine Angabe
Englisch
Aircraft , Military Sciences , Electromagnetic & Acoustic Countermeasures , Aging(Materials) , Marine corps aircraft , Replacement , Electronic aircraft , Navy , Attrition , Costs , Military capabilities , Marine corps aviation , Surface to air missiles , Shortages , Short takeoff aircraft , Threats , Marine corps , Vertical landings , Electronic warfare , Air force , Ea-6b aircraft , Ea-18g aircraft , Electronic attack analysis of alternatives , F-35 aircraft , Jsf(Joint strike fighter) , Alq-99 tactical jamming system , Ea-6c aircraft
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