The Scorpions

Acquiring such expertise is accomplished not only by working with Boeing, but on a less formal basis by establishing productive relationships with USN units already operating the jet.

It was a visit to the Australian chapter of the Association of Old Crows EW advocacy group by the Commanding Officer of the VAQ-132 ‘The Scorpions’ that helped pave the way for the debut visit to this country by the EA-18G Growler.

A former Prowler pilot and veteran of tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, CDR Dave Kurtz is the CO of the first USN squadron to operate the type and he visited Australia last year to give an unclassified Growler capability briefing to the Old Crows.

He used the visit as an opportunity to visit 1SQN in Amberley to establish and enhance unit to unit goodwill meetings between 82WG and the US Pacific Fleet’s Electronic Attack Wing based at Whidbey Island, Washington State.

“We expressed an interest that we were going to be deployed to the Pacific and wondered what the possibility of us working together with the RAAF Super Hornet would be,” CDR Kurtz told Australian Aviation. “From there, it went up both US and Australian sides because it has to be approved at the highest levels of government for foreign militaries to operate in foreign airspace. ” Once Exercise Growler 12 was approved, VAQ-132 then set about organising the logistics required to deploy three Growlers and 100 personnel from Misawa, Japan (to where the unit has deployed for six months).

That resulted in three EA-18Gs arriving at Amberley on September 28 to begin several weeks of capability demonstrations and combined exercises.

CDR Kurtz explained how VAQ-132 had been employing the Growler during the exercise: “We’ve been doing the full range of our mission sets, nearly the full range of the Growler’s capability mission sets. With respect to working with the RAAF, we have been operating in large force employment exercises, actually having the 82WG Super Hornets conduct their missions and us integrating ourselves into their normal training because that’s how it would play out in a real world combat scenario, we would do our mission

“What we hope to do with our jamming is to force them into a shorter range, force them into making bad decisions, or perhaps no decision at all. It’s about interfering with their thought processes. ”

in conjunction with theirs to enhance and support their mission and mission goals.

And there are other times where they have specific things they need to accomplish individually as do we, so we can deconflict the airspace and get our own training done while we’re here. ” Developing and deepening interoperability is the key to enhanced performance on joint operations, explained CDR Kurtz, noting that in Libya, where VAQ‑132 Growlers were deployed as part of the NATO-controlled Operation Odyssey Dawn, the Scorpions were tasked with supporting primarily French aircraft.

CDR Kurtz outlined what it was that the Growler brought to the shooting match.

“It brings an enhanced effectiveness and survivability for friendly and coalition and joint military forces. The Growler’s primary mission, in terms of electronic attack, is to degrade, deceive and deny enemy use of the electromagnetic spectrum, be that from radars, and communications, and it’s also about limiting an adversary’s ability to coordinate their attacks, limiting their ability to attack when they want to attack and forcing them to attack, as we say ‘behind timelines’. ” This mission, CDR Kurtz explained, is conducted by the Growler as part of a larger strike package, with its role being to ensure the bomb carriers are able to get in and get out, intact. It is also about inhibiting an enemy’s ability to mount a coherent defensive response. “They may want to launch strikes, they may want to launch missiles at range in order to use the missiles to their maximum capability.

What we hope to do with our jamming is to force them into a shorter range, force them into making bad decisions, or perhaps no decision at all. It’s about interfering with their thought processes. ” VAQ-132 transitioned to the Growler in 2009, trading in its old four-crew EA‑6B Prowlers and immediately realised maintenance efficiencies gained from operating a derivative of a type in widespread USN service, CDR Kurtz described converting to the EA-18G as “entering the 21st Century”.

Greater automation of mission avionics has permitted a two-person flightcrew on the EA-18G, permitting a higher degree of crew coordination during the mission.

The electronic warfare officer in the Growler’s rear seat controls the mission from one of three full colour tactical LCD screens, while the pilot retains full situational awareness thanks to his HMCS, (helmet mounted cueing system) which presents a continuous mission-critical data feed from the APG-79 AESA radar.

“We’re able to tailor the system a lot more completely that we were previously (in the Prowler), so it alleviates a lot of the workload and allows us to analyse information and turn it into a product for our mission,” CDR Kurtz pointed out.

“In the Prowler, the pilot only had aircraft information, and the ECMO (electronic countermeasures officer) had warfare system information, and they had very few cockpit instruments between them. With the Growler, we’re able to provide that data to both cockpits, independently, so the pilot is a lot more engaged in the execution of each of the electronic attack missions and that allows the pilot and the EWO to delegate, to task-share, to divide tasks so that they’re operating as an efficient crew, and the technology allows us to do that and it makes us far more effective. ”

Another huge plus is the tactical advantage afforded by the EA-18G’s speed. “It provides more strike power. Rather than having to leave aircraft behind to defend us, we can put this aircraft forward to bemore effective with the strike package.

With the ability to communicate, the ability to see the big picture and participate in the big picture, we’re able to rapidly… and within a very narrow level of detail, pass threat information to the ground forces and the rest of the strike package and enable them to avoid threats and at least let them know that they’re coming. ” And with its APG-79 radar and ability to carry AIM-120 AMRAAMs, the Growler has a measure of self protection over and above anything previously offered by the Prowler.

Having had over 40 years of continuous service as an electronic attack squadron, VAQ-132 was able to draw upon deep reserves of EW know-how as it transitioned from Prowler to Growler. CDR Kurtz acknowledges that 82WG faces a steep learning curve.

“At the Scorpions, we took our baseline understanding of electronic attack and the principles associated with it, and added in the other missions sets and learnt the new button pushing and new execution methods for conducting the mission that we were expert in. It takes a long time to build that expertise and that’s something the RAAF is beginning to understand. ” Exercise Growler 12 is therefore a crucial step in growing the Air Combat Group’s nascent EW capability, and establishing the beginnings of a Growler Joint User Group “Our mission here is to integrate with the RAAF and begin the introduction to their employment of the Growler and how they can start to think about using them in their mission planning and for us to get a sense of how the RAAF operates. ” Nonetheless, the Commander is confident that as the newest operator of the Growler, 82 Wing’s crews will bring a new and innovative way of looking at how the platform’s capabilities can be exploited when it achieves IOC in 2018.

A cadre of Australian Growler aircrew will be sent to NAS Lemoore to receive training on the new platform, and the initial conversion of the first two Super Hornets will be undertaken by Boeing in the US with the balance of the fleet expected to be modified at Amberley.

That modification of the F/A-18F to EA-18G standard, which has not been undertaken before, involves installing missionised avionics in place of the gun, and fitting wingtip pods for the ALQ-218 tactical jamming receiver system.

It is the removable ALQ-99F jamming pods that will most easily distinguish a Growler from a Super Hornet The addition of these systems and the pods does impact on the aircraft’s handling, but not greatly, CDR Kurtz pointed out. “The pods are heavy, so it’s got to have an effect on the flight characteristics. But a Super Hornet carrying a 2,000lb JDAM is going to be similarly impacted.

“One of the primary differences is, we don’t run out of ordnance – those jammer pods are our primary ordnance. It enables us to stay on mission longer. Our mission is not to get in there and mix it up but to make it right so our aircraft don’t have to mix it up and can execute their mission at safe ranges and still be effective. ” n