Boeing's New EA-18 Growler: They're Grrrreat!

Nice looking Jet. Certainly an upgrade from the whistling drumbstick of electronic death. Makes sense they use the greater load capacity of the F model to replace the EA-6.

BTW the F-18 has some unique qualities that make it a bit more than just sleek. Cannot go into it as it is classified. But take it from an old Com Nav tech on the FA-18D's the USMC flew in the 90's. It won't be nearly as easy to see it as you would think. Even with those big ECCM pods under the wings.

I'm sure the Queer (aka the EA-6 Prowler) will get it's sendoffs... when it actually leaves.

It's not like the Tomcat pilots were out crying in their beer the day the Navy took acceptance of the first F/A-18A.

One thing though... is this a pure jamming platform or is it supposed to be able to hang HARM/SideARM missiles on it as well? I see the wingtip racks are free, but not much else.

And just how many SAMs have the cockroaches destroyed? Last time I looked, the Serbian SA-3s didn't think it was invisible.

There is a reason the USAF wants to retire the pieces of shit!

come on, for all the action that the nighthawks have seen, they've lost one!! aircraft in combat.

Not a bad track record brotha.

From what I understand (told to me by an E-2C NFO who was there) the Stealth fighter in question was shot down only AFTER wandering out of the ECM protective "bubble" provided by the Prowlers that fateful night over Serbia.

...I believe it was an SA-6 Gainful, not an SA-3 (Goa?) that got the F117.

Jeff: You are right, I don't remember the Tomcat guys crying in their beer when the Hornet hit the fleet. I think I do remember a few tears being shed, however, when the wholesale transition of A-7 drivers to Hornets occurred, leaving the F-14 guys last.

Does anyone know if the Navy's Prowlers will go to the USMC or whether the USMC is slated to get the Growler as well?

I'm talking out of my rear here, but I'm pretty sure the Corps will get the Growler. They have *I believe* three active EA-6 squadrons and one or two composite squadrons with the navy, so I doubt the Marines part with SEAD capability just because Boeing built a new jet.

For God's sake I hope it is at least a little more quiet than that #$%@*!! EA-6.

Are you guys serious? Somebody actually mourned the departure of the A-7?

jonny516

Okay, bear with me here for the long haul because I'm going to be completely honest and not hold anything back.

I am so glad that we are finally thinking about getting rid of the *^$#+*% Prowler! I have been a navy jet mechanic for 9 years now. The P-3 Orions I had previously worked on had lots of different sections and parts but for the most part were really enjoyable to work on. I enjoyed 7 years with the Orions and miss them.

My last 2 years on the Prowlers have been sheer hell. Those planes are a complete and utter erganomic fallacy and have got to be the most physically uncomfortable aircraft I have ever delt with. For a mech, everything you do involves the damn crouch and "duck walk" to get under them. Once you're underneath and have avoided gashing your forehead, the doors either get stuck and won't unlatch or randomly drop on your head.
Surprise! Gotcha. Let's not forget the infamous "hell hole" I'm refering to the stupid, flimsy painted aluminum sheet panels with crappy zeus fasteners above the wing landing gear. If you're a big guy, you can barely get to them and they never want to properly fasten without blood, sweat, tears and curse words.

These are but a few of the small things that are a pain to deal with. The really bad stuff involves fuel cell removal and replacement. NOT COOL, especially in the Persian gulf onboard a carrier with lack of light, heat, humidity and the stench of microbiological growth in the fuel. Hope you don't have to scratch your nose or rub your eyes because the sweat is dripping in them.

Every EA6-B is bent in some shape or form and swapping panels from one to another usually involves grinding and pushing and prying to some unnatural degree. Ask me how I really feel.

I think the most dumbfounding aspect about the Prowler is the fact that it's engines reach "high time" at 1000 hrs. Whether the oil has contaminents or not @ 1000 hours an engine must be replaced. Don't worry it gets even better. Most engines don't even last half that long. How much do these engines cost? I can't remember but it's somewhere in the neighborhood of $250-750K, yes, hundreds of thousands of dollars! Guess where your taxes are going?

Another thing, I'm not sure that the prowler is really that much louder or impressive than other afterburning jets. The Prowler's sound is simply more irritating and has an unusually painful sound. To me it sounds kind of like a fire hose spraying against a tin garbage can lid. Afterburning engines have a deeper base "whumpff" to them and displace more air in a different type of sound. this sound can be felt on a more comfortable level for a greater distance.

One way I can prove this is the fact that while living close to the base I witnessed car alarms going off from F-14 Tomcats while my windows oscillated like drum skins. Even though prowlers flew over routinely they never set off any car alarms on my street. The next door neighbor came out 3 times because of the awesome, beautiful, sleek Cat's flying overhead. The amazing thing is that I didn't have to wince or cringe from the Tomcats APPROACH setting to land engine noise. The lower frequency just seems to affect car alarms more. Tomcats move a much higher volume of air with engines in a more tollerable frequency. I prefer base frequencies any day over rattling, tinny racket that irritates the living sanity out of me.

Aside from the irritating noise issues, aircraft emergencies and fuel dumps are very common among the VAQ Squadrons, especially for landing gear malfunctions. Taking a quick glance at the base log book for the crash phone can certainly verify that. Nearly every time a Prowler flies, something, somewhere will break. I find Prowlers to be ugly, noisy, unreliable and uncomfortable to work on. I will not miss them one bit.

I suppose the ONLY truly good aspect of the prowler is it's ability to cruise without having afterburner at a relatively high rate of speed and a high payload capacity. a Prowler is sligthly faster than a hornet at max power BEFORE a hornet goes into burner and is able to sustain that speed for a longer duration of time. Other than this, these are pretty much the only two redeeming qualities of the aircraft.

The new EA-18 Growler will be a dream come true. It's extremely versatile, maneuverable, much faster in burner, prettier and maintenace will be easier and more accessible at shoulder height for engines. I will be proud to show anybody back home and point and say, "yes, that's the new Super Hornet Variant that I help maintain." I cannot wait. it's time for a change.

It's pretty hard to convince guys to turn on their SAM radars for something that is invisible. The louder the better. Always thought some enterprising Iranian kid could set up some bleachers and sell tickets to a HARM demonstration. Just make sure that the bleachers are far enough away from the SAM site, and run like hell once you turn it on.