Issue 330: Full Spectrum

“Occasions such as today,” Brown said, “provide powerful and tangible evidence of the commitment of our government and our people to the maintenance of sophisticated Australian airpower. ” A46-301 is the first of 12 Growlers on order for the RAAF, and had already made its first flight, on July 13, ahead of the rollout ceremony. By the time of the rollout the second RAAF Growler had also flown, while the following 10 aircraft were all currently in various stages of assembly at Boeing’s St Louis plant. All 12 are due to be ferried to Australia during 2017. There they will be operated by 6 Squadron, which in turn will hand over its existing F/A‑18F Super Hornets to an expanded 1 Squadron, with (on current plans) Growler initial operational capability (IOC) planned for 2018.

FOC – final operational capability – will follow in the early 2020s.

Their arrival in Amberley will give the RAAF a full spectrum electronic attack capability unique outside of the US Navy. Not even the US Air Force has had its own organic tactical electronic attack capability since the retirement of its EF-111 Ravens in 1998, instead relying on US Navy and Marine Corps EA-6B Prowlers and Navy Growlers for jamming support.

“It’s a capability that we have never had before and the jamming capability and the ability to actually shut down hostile radars, hostile surface-to-air missile systems is something that is really essential if we are going to go into hostile airspace,” Brown told journalists after the rollout ceremony.

“It is such a big change and it gives us so many more options than we’ve ever had before. I always think about military capability there are three things that you really want.

You want a good cyber capability, you want a good kinetic capability, which we’ve always had, but you also want a good electronic warfare capability. And … the ability to attack the electronic spectrum the way that this aeroplane can do will make a tremendous effect not only for the Air Force but to the whole ADF. ” Brown noted that “there is lots of stuff [Growler can do] we can’t talk about … but I think it will make a tremendous difference… right across the whole spectrum whether it’s COIN (counter insurgency) operations to high end conflict. In many respects, like the Wedgetail, it is a low-density, high-value asset that will always be useful in any coalition or even independent operations. ” But it is a capability perhaps little understood in the broader community.

“The Growler is Australia’s most significant capability acquisition – not just for the RAAF, but for the ADF – since the F-111 was ordered more than half a century ago,” says former air force officer, academic and RAAF historian Dr Alan Stephens.

It will have one of the biggest strategic effects for the ADF since the F-111. AIR MARSHAL GEOFF BROWN

“If Australia joins a major US-led campaign, you can guarantee that the first capability the Americans will want from us won’t be SAS, or submarines, or anything else, but Growlers,” Dr Stephens told Australian Aviation.

“If Australia has to take the lead in a significant campaign in our immediate region, the fact that the RAAF has Growlers and no-one else does means that we (and our allies) will fight with information dominance and our enemies will fight blind. ” To realise that capability the RAAF is already well advanced in training aircrews on the Growler ahead of its arrival in Australia in early 2017.

To date the RAAF already has two-and-a-half qualified Growler crews, comprising three pilots and two electronic warfare officers, who have completed their training with the US Navy’s VAQ-129 Growler training unit, based at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island in Washington State near Seattle, and are now serving on USN expeditionary (land-based) operational squadrons.

“So what the US Navy said to us, quite rightly, is if you want to put guys on operational squadrons we need to get two years out of them before you take them back,” explains Wing Commander Paul Jarvis, Deputy Director of the EA-18G Growler Transition Team, in an interview with Australian Aviation. “And January 2017 is when we want most of our people back when we start flying our own aircraft, so we effectively hit a barrier where people would graduate too late to give the [US] Navy their two years. ” So the RAAF’s fourth Growler crew are experienced instructors who are currently undergoing conversion training at VAQ-129, where they will stay on as instructors.

You can guarantee the first capability the Americans will want from us will be Growlers. DR ALAN STEPHENS

“Crew 4 we picked as experienced instructor crews. Anyone who misses the boat for the two years [on an operational squadron], the Navy has offered to keep them on the RAG [USN training squadron] where they’ll still get a lot of Growler experience, and we can help the Navy by plus-ing up the instructor cadre,” Jarvis explains.

Then crews 5 and 6 will be junior crews who have recently completed fast jet training on the Hawk at 76 Squadron.

Those initial crews, says Jarvis, were selected for their mix of experience and backgrounds.

“The offensive side of electronic warfare is very different, so we’re taking a mix. There are guys who have done exchanges with the RAF on Tornadoes so they have some ALARM anti-radiation missile experience, we’ve got a guy who completed his first tour on classic Hornets with 75SQN. We’ve got guys that have F-111 and SuperHornet experience, and we’ve just sent our first brand new ‘bog rats’ straight out of IFC (76SQN’s introductory fighter course). ” Another Growler back-seater has come from the AP-3C Orion.

“We wanted to get a mix, we didn’t want a full-up fast jet mind-set, because Growler is an ES (electronic surveillance) as well as an EA (electronic attack) asset, and we took the opportunity to talk to 92 Wing and see if they could give us a talented back-ender from P-3s. ” Ultimately 6 Squadron will grow to be manned to sustain full tempo Growler operations at FOC, with the workforce growth carefully managed across both the Growler and F-35 Lightning transitions. Even when up to strength, the RAAF will continue to send crews to convert onto the Growler with the USN’s VAQ-129 at Whidbey, as the small RAAF fleet size doesn’t make it cost-effective to run conversion courses in Amberley.

AT-FLIR really enables the ‘find, fix, track, target, engage, assess’ kill chain. WGCDR PAUL JARVIS

(Indeed as 6 Squadron transitions to the Growler, some Australian Super Hornet crews will also be sent to the US for Super Hornet conversion training, a role currently undertaken at 6SQN. ) VAQ-129’s conversion course runs for about ten months, after which crews will return to Australia for a small Australian-specific transition course prior to being awarded their ‘D-Cat’ qualification which will see them “enter the standard stream of becoming combat ready and moving up to gain their B-Cat qualifications before moving on to gain postgraduate qualifications on their second tours. ” When the Growler does arrive in Australia, its concept of operations will be largely the same as for the US Navy, but with a local flavour.

“In broad terms for the basic Growler mission sets, it will be very similar [to the US Navy],” says WGCDR Jarvis, although the Growler could take on a broader electronic warfare/electronic surveillance role.

Without being able to get into specifics, “effectively we will explore Growler beyond its traditional US Navy employment,” WGCDR Jarvis offers.

Subtle differences will include operational procedures.

The ability to help us win decision-making superiority, that’s the real key. WGCDR PAUL JARVIS

“We will have to evolve our Growler employment to fit our strike fighter tactics, which are subtly different to those employed by the US Navy,” says WGCDR Jarvis.

“Maritime strike, I think we will bring a slightly different approach to that because most of the US Navy mindset is based around the carrier air wing. Growler is going to be an extremely potent maritime strike capability because normally the fast jets use a P-8 or P-3 to help them find the ships. With its ESM, the Growler can enhance the accuracy and timeliness of the surface picture in concert with the largermaritime intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and response assets. ” One more noticeable difference between the RAAF and USN employment of the Growler is that Australia is fitting its EA- 18Gs with the AT-FLIR targeting pod and the AIM‑9X Sidewinder air-to-air missile. The Australian requirement for AT‑FLIR in particular came out of DSTO and Capability Development Group analysis of the US Navy VAQ- 132’s experience operating the Growler over Libya in 2011.

“One of the things you see on our aeroplane is an AT-FLIR and an AIM‑9X. That was one of the lessons that the Navy learnt [from Libya],” Brown said after the rollout. “We’re the only ones that have got that capability and I suspect the US Navy will follow very quickly. ” Carrying the AT-FLIR gives the Growler the ability to visually ID potential targets and threats, and in particular allowing the Growler crew to identify which particular radar site or ship radar might be emitting.

So AT-FLIR, says WGCDR Jarvis, “really enables” the ‘find, fix, track, target, engage, assess’ kill chain.

“What’s really important to understand about Growler in the ADF context is that we’re providing support to all three services, we are there to reduce risk for other force elements, so if we’re helping out an Army or Special Forces unit on the ground, why would you not have the targeting pod to help them look behind the hill? Then you don’t have to send a strike fighter and the Growler when there’s limited resources. ” As for the AIM-9X, where the USN Growlers currently carry radar-guided AIM-120 AMRAAMs for self-defence: “Having an infrared-guided missile gives us far more flexibility. ”Modifying the Growler to carry the AT-FLIR and AIM-9X requires a relatively minor change to the aircraft’s software, as the Super Hornet, upon which the Growler is based, is already cleared to carry both the missile and the pod (and both of which are carried by RAAF Super Hornets).

“The good news is AIM-9X and AT-FLIR are integrated on the Super Hornet, which has common software [with the Growler] so the integration is relatively straightforward,” Dan Gillian, Boeing’s F/A-18 vice president and program manager, told journalists after the rollout ceremony.

As with the Super Hornet, the RAAF expects to follow the US Navy’s upgrade path for the Growler to ensure complete interoperability and commonality of maintenance.

“As the US Navy upgrades this aeroplane, we’ll stay in lock-step,” Brown told journalists after the rollout ceremony.

That means it is likely the RAAF will acquire the Next Generation Jammer now under development to replace the Growler’s ALQ-99 radar jamming pods. Indeed Rear Admiral Don Gaddis, the head of US Navy tactical aircraft programs, suggested in his rollout ceremony remarks that Australia would join a cooperative development program for the Next Generation Jammer, which is being developed by prime contractor Raytheon to meet a late 2020 IOC.

“Spiral upgrades are crucial to Growler,” says WGCDR Jarvis, “and we’re going to have to have a robust spiral upgrade program to stay at pace with modern threats. ” RAAF input into future Growler upgrades comes from participating in the US Navy’s annual naval aviation requirements groups and a strong working relationship with NAVAIR and the Navy’s N98 Air Warfare Division within the Pentagon, which develops naval aviation capability requirements.

Further, notes WGCDR Jarvis,“As part of the transition office we have RAAF embeds working with the [US] Navy to help in keeping the ELINT databases up-to-date and helping the Navy understand what our Australian requirements are, so we certainly get to put forward our requirements and clearly everything goes though a prioritisation process. We’re in a good place. ” For now the focus is training aircrews and maintenance personnel and bringing the Growlers home to Australia in 2017. Following the rollout ceremony the first two RAAF Growlers were due to fly to China Lake in August to undergo work with the US Navy to clear the aircraft to carry the AIM-9X and AT-FLIR while the other aircraft will initially go into storage with Boeing in St Louis. Aircraft will then be delivered to Whidbey Island, or delivered direct to Australia.

In all, the Growlers will take to 111 the number of Hornet, Super Hornet and Growler airframes the RAAF will have taken delivery of. The first Australian Growler is the 116th EA-18G to be built, while total Super Hornet and Growler production will reach 700 units later in 2015.

Boeing currently has orders to keep the Super Hornet/Growler production line running through until late 2017, but is hopeful a US Navy requirement for 12 further Super Hornets (for fiscal year ’16) and orders for 24 to 36 Super Hornets from a new Middle Eastern customer, reported to be Kuwait, will be confirmed, which would see production continue through to late 2019.

In 2015 Boeing will deliver 35 Super Hornets and Growlers, and is in the process of slowing its production rate from three aircraft a month to two. Boeing is also bidding for further international sales, with Denmark the next closest to a decision (Boeing was asked to provide pricing on 24 to 36 F/A-18Fs), which could take the line into the early 2020s.

“We have strong customer signals today,” Boeing’s Gillian said. “CNO [Chief of Naval Operations] has talked about 24 to 36 Super Hornets, [there has been] ongoing discussions about additional Growlers for the Navy, strong international signals from the Middle East, Denmark etc. ” But further international Growler orders, said Gillian, “are not in my baseline plan”. That’s no real surprise given the US government would likely only offer the Growler to its closest and most-trusted allies, like the UK and Canada.

“We’re certainly proud of our partnership with Australia and we think it is no coincidence that Australia uniquely has this capability internationally. ” As Alan Stephens observes, it is a unique, and envied, capability.

“It is an exceptional coup for the RAAF to become only the second operator in the world to have Growlers (the other being the US Navy). Our like-minded air force allies such as the RAF and the RCAF would give their eye-teeth to have some. ” Continues Dr Stephens: “Most Australian defence officials and analysts haven’t grasped what the Growler means to Australia’s defence capabilities. The capability Growler brings to the fight should change the way the Australian Army and RAN think and operate. It’s questionable, though, whether those services understand that. Once they do, they’ll never want to leave home without one. ” It is, says WGCDR Jarvis, about decision-making superiority.

“He who manoeuvres best in the EM (electro-magnetic) spectrum will gain decision superiority and therefore they’ll prevail. Growler’s a great tool for not only enhancing your own kill chain but it is also very effective at denying the adversary kill chain,” he says.

“It really is a game changer for us. The ability for the jet to help us win decision-making superiority, that’s the real key. ”