Grizlly

The EA-18G Growler nears service entry

While visiting St Louis for the rollout of the RAAF’s first F/A-18F Super Hornet, media were also given a detailed brief on the EA-18G Growler, a variant of the F which is due to achieve Initial Operating Capability (IOC) with the US Navy later this year, and for which the RAAF has had half of its 24 strong Super Hornet fleet ‘wired’ for in case it decides to adopt an Electronic Attack (EA) capability in the future.

The EA-18G, to be dubbed ‘Grizzly’ in US Navy service to discriminate it from standard ‘Hornets’ and Super ‘Rhinos’ when being launched and recovered aboard ship, will replace the four-seat Grumman EA-6B Prowler. The Prowler was first introduced in the 1970s and, despite being considerably larger and slower than the carrier-borne strike and fighter aircraft it is usually tasked to escort, has been continually updated with the latest generation of radar warning receivers (RWR) and jammers through the Navy’s I-CAP program. Prowlers are in service with both the Navy and US Marines, and are flown by mixed crews from these two services as well as by USAF personnel.