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The Prowler
The Grumman (now Northrop Grumman) EA-6B Prowler is an electronic warfare aircraft that was operated by the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Outfitted with advanced avionics and jamming equipment, the Prowler was designed to protect aerial strike forces by jamming enemy radar and communications. It also performed electronic surveillance and gathered electronic intelligence.
Based on Grumman’s A-6 Intruder airframe, the EA-6B sports a radome on its vertical stabilizer, an enlarged cockpit for a pilot and three electronic countermeasures officers, and the ability to carry and fire anti-radiation missiles (ARMs). It has gone through multiple upgrades in its four decades of service, and its ability to suppress enemy air defenses remained formidable to the end. Grumman produced a total of 170 Prowlers. Not a single one was ever shot down in combat, but 50 were lost over the years in accidents.
The first Prowler, the EA-6A, emerged in 1963 from Grumman internal studies. The upgraded, four-crew EA-6B entered service in 1971 and, in the mid-1970s, was the only tactical radar jamming platform for all US Armed Forces. Prowler squadrons were based at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Washington and were deployed to carrier air wings as needed. Prowlers served in the Vietnam War and Operation Desert Storm and participated in numerous other combat and support missions.
“Music”
While many assessments about what specific aircraft types can or cannot do are based on experiences from realistic exercises, there are always crucial areas of performance that can never be ‘tested’ in peace. One of these was the full power and capabilities of the ‘music’ — electronic warfare emissions — deployed by aircraft like the Grumman EA-6B Prowler.
According to the National Naval Aviation Museum a summary of air operations in Operation Desert Storm in 1991 captured the importance of the EA-6B. “Critical to the success of all aviation missions was the role of electronic countermeasures “jamming” or “defense suppression” aircraft. Navy EA-6B Prowlers determined threat location then jammed and destroyed enemy radars. Navy defense suppression aircraft supported all U.S. and coalition forces— in fact, availability of the EA-6Bs was a go/no-go criterion for many strike missions. If Navy defense suppression wasn’t available, the missions didn’t fly.”
As explained by Tom Cooper in his book In the Claws of the Tomcat: US Navy F-14 Tomcats in Air Combat against Iran and Iraq, 1987-2000, compared to the EA-6A the EA-6B was a major step forward. It included a stretched fuselage with a cockpit for four crewmembers: pilot, ECM-officer (who managed navigation, communications, defensive ECM and the dispensing of chaff), and two electronic warfare operators (EWOs).
EA-6B ALQ-99 jamming pods emissions
The Prowler came together with much improved and more powerful equipment centred on up to five ALQ-99 high-power tactical jamming pods. While one of these was installed in an aerodynamic shape atop the fin, the other four were carried underwing and included windmill generators to supply their power requirements.
As of 1990-1991, the US Navy had one electronic warfare squadron of four EA-6Bs for each of its CVWs. However, their crews were prohibited from deploying the full power of ALQ-99 during peacetime exercises. Thus, the first time they went into a war – against Iraq, on Jan. 17, 1991 – some of their potential took everybody by surprise. It turned out that when ‘cut loose’, the Prowlers caused the radar homing and warning (system) RHAW gear of F-14s to literally go crazy, and jammed not only their own IFF-signals, but also much of the radio communications. Indeed, a subsequent investigation revealed that their emissions were one of the principal reasons for communication problems experienced by multiple Navy formations underway over Iraq on the first day of the war.
In the Claws of the Tomcat: US Navy F-14 Tomcats in Air Combat against Iran and Iraq, 1987-2000 is published by Helion & Company and is available to order here.
Photo credit: U.S. Navy
