The US Naval Fleet received it's first EA-18G Growler aircraft today at a ceremony at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island in Washington. While the Navy had been testing the Growler in recent years, this aircraft will be the first to gain operational capability now that it has joined the U.S. Navy's Electronic Attack Squadron, (VAQ) 129. The Vikings of VAQ 129 have been operating the Growler's predecessor, the EA-6B Prowler, since 1971 with the Fleet Readiness Squadron at NAS Whidbey Island, which is home port for all airborne electronic attack aircraft in the Navy.
So what's so great about the Growler (other than a sweet name)? This next-gen aircraft leans on the airframe of the combat-proven F/A-18F Super Hornet to build the world's most capable airborne electronic attack aircraft with the equipment, advanced weapons, sensors and communications to totally obliterate enemy air defenses. The team of Boeing and Northrop Grumman have done a fabulous job creating this next great electronic attack system. The Vikings of VAQ 129 should be getting the first 5 fleet Growlers, which I'm looking forward to seeing on the deck of a carrier ready to strike around the world. Some poor soul manning an air defense scope is going to regret painting this bad boy with radar. Of course, it will all be over before he knows it.
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Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Navy gets 1st Growler, enemy radar operators mess their pants
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6 comments:
That is going to be an amazing weapon. Does it basically disable all electrical devices within a blast radius like a pinch or nuclear explosion?
I like how you verbally celebrate the killing of another human. A+ for style!
Hey, anonymous: It isn't a celebration for killing a person. RTFA.
It's an electronic warfare aircraft. It provides extreme jamming.
Flink, Anonymous here,
I RTFA as you so kindly suggested and I even made it to the last two sentences in the FA!
Wonder what the AGM-88 HARM (not mentioned in this article) is for!?
it's for radar suppression, of course. Are you dim-witted?
In this sort of circumstance I would usually direct a person to Janes or some other reputable information source.
However, since you are clueless, I will endeavour to explain this to you.
This new F-18 variant it the latest in a proud line of aircraft tasked to suppress enemy missile sites and radar installations. In performing this task, rather than simple dumping a several of tons of bombs to blanket an entire installation, HARM series missiles home on radar emissions, destroying the targeting/search radar antenna.
Anonymous again.
Flink,
since I'm clueless (granted, keeping up to date with new ways to "obliterate" equipment/people isn't one of my strong points) and this weapon system is harmless to humans, could you please explain the following quotes from the article to me: "...enemy radar operators mess their pants" and "Some poor soul manning an air defense scope is going to regret painting this bad boy with radar. Of course, it will all be over before he knows it."
What does this mean?
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