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The Northrop Grumman EA-6B Prowler is a four-seat,
all-weather, electronic countermeasures aircraft. The Prowler's
primary role is the electronic attack mission. It denies, degrades
and deceives enemy radar and disrupts enemy communications by
electronically jamming those systems or attacking them with the
high-speed antiradiation missile (HARM). The secondary mission
includes electronic surveillance.
Since its introduction into service in 1971, the
Prowler has served the U.S. Navy by protecting carrier battle groups
and associated aircraft. In 1994, the Secretary of Defense selected
the Prowler to become the sole tactical radar support jammer for all
military services. Consequently, the Navy's role was expanded. Eight
expeditionary squadrons are now available to the Commanders in Chief
- four Navy squadrons with Air Force aircrews and four Marine.
Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems performs
engineering work on Prowlers at its Bethpage, N.Y., facility, where
the EA-6B program is headquartered. The last production Prowler was
delivered in November 1991, making a total of 170 built. Overhaul
and upgrade work occurs in Airborne Early Warning and Electronic
Warfare business area facility in St. Augustine, Fla.
The Prowler's initial deployment was in 1972 in
Southeast Asia, where it encountered the world's first true
"electronic battlefield." The aircraft also saw combat in Operation
Desert Storm in 1991; has supported NATO peacekeeping operations
over Bosnia-Herzegovina; and enforced "no-fly" zones around Iraq and
as part of NATO operations over Yugoslavia. The EA-6B was
fundamental to the success of NATO air operations over Kosovo during
Operation Allied Force in 1999. Almost no sorties were flown without
the support of a Prowler.
The Prowler's distinguishing features are the
pod-shaped antenna fairing that houses sensitive surveillance
receivers atop the vertical fin, and the tandem, two-place cockpits
that accommodate the pilot and three electronic countermeasures
officers. Two J52-P-408A engines supply power, and a strengthened
airframe allows jolting carrier landings even when the aircraft is
fully loaded.
The EA-6B's current "weapon" - ALQ-99F - is the
production version of this fully integrated airborne jamming system.
Sensitive surveillance receivers in the tailfin pod can detect
radars at long ranges. Emitter information is fed to a central
digital computer that processes the signals for cockpit display and
recording.
A total of five integrally powered pods with a total
of 10 very high power "smart" jamming transmitters can be carried
under the Prowler's fuselage and wings. Each pod contains an exciter
that tailors the jamming signals for transmission by two powerful
transmitters.
The ICAP-II Prowler, the generation of all Prowlers
currently in the fleet, carries exciters that generate signals in
any of seven frequency bands. Each pod can jam in different bands
simultaneously. In addition, the Prowler can carry any mix of pods,
external fuel tanks or missiles, depending on mission requirements.
The addition of the HARM missile, which locks onto
the enemy's radar and tracks the radiation back to the source, added
a new dimension to the Prowler's inventory of electronic
countermeasure weapons. The surveillance receiver data is used to
identify priority HARM targets in real time.
To increase the size of the fleet to meet the needs
of the Navy and Air Force, Northrop Grumman was awarded a $59
million Navy contract in 1997 to outfit 20 Prowlers to the Increased
Capability-II/Block 89 configuration. This effort includes new
radios and other communications enhancements, fuel system
improvements, fire detection and other safety upgrades, and enhanced
signal processing.
Northrop Grumman delivered the first of these
upgraded and refurbished Prowlers to the Navy in December 1998.
These 20 aircraft, formerly in storage, have completed the upgrade
process and bring the fleet to its mandated active inventory of 104
Prowlers.
Over the years, the EA-6B has been upgraded several
times under the Navy's preplanned product improvement programs.
Because the EA-6B program will be critical to the Defense
Department's overall mission for years to come, the Prowler will
continue to be improved. Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems is
conducting two major upgrade programs to keep the system ahead of
the threats. The first is the Block 89A upgrade, under which fleet
aircraft are being converted to the latest enhanced configuration
that insures interoperability with other U.S. forces.
The second upgrade is even more significant. It's
the development of the next?generation EA-6B system known as
Improved Capability III (ICAP III). Northrop Grumman was awarded
this competitively bid contract, valued at approximately
$150
million for initial development, in early 1998. ICAP III will
provide a reactive tactical jamming system, as well as new displays,
controls and associated software to counter advanced threat radars.
Two Prowlers have been inducted into the St. Augustine facility to
be modified as the ICAP III flight test aircraft. The first is
scheduled for first flight in approximately the third quarter of
2001. Initial operating capability is planned for 2004.
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