Defense News
December 20, 1999
Pg. 1

DoD Seeks EA-6B Follow-On

By Robert Holzer, Defense News Staff Writer

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Navy and Air Force officials will soon launch a new, high-priority study to assess alternatives for replacing the current EA-6B Prowler aircraft by 2010, Pentagon and defense industry sources said.

Officials from both services were working the week of Dec. 6 to get an estimated $10 million released from the Pentagon's Joint Theater Air and Missile Defense Office to launch the study, which was included in the 2000 defense budget.

The money was given to that office by Congress to ensure a joint solution was studied for the follow-on EA-6B jamming capability, defense sources said.

"The study has a joint look and feel to it, so I think everyone's needs will be met," a Pentagon source said. "I think they are ready to move forward now.''

Officially the study is called the Joint Airborne Electronic Attack Analysis of Alternatives. Its objective is to assess a variety of options and combinations for meeting or exceeding the current EA-6B jamming capability that must begin to be replaced by 2010.

The study will be coordinated by an executive steering group, composed of senior Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and other Pentagon officials, according to defense documents detailing the study's agenda. A separate study director and study manager will oversee and coordinate the work of an integrated product team, which will in turn report to the steering group, but no one has been named to the position.

Options for replacing the EA-6B range from building more of these specialized aircraft to adding a jamming capability to existing aircraft like the F version of the F/A-18 Super Hornet to using new types of unmanned aerial or air combat vehicles.

The study is expected to continue through 2002, after which the most likely candidates would participate in an engineering and manufacturing development phase, defense sources said. This would be followed by low-rate production in 2008 and an initial fielding of the new capability, beginning in 2010. Older EA-6Bs would phase out by 2015.

"It is important to start the [budget] process and the long-term planning [for a new jammer], but you can't do that until you get some results from the Analysis of Alternatives," said retired Rear Adm. Riley Mixson, former head of naval aviation.

The need to hastily replace the venerable Prowler, which has been in service for more than 25 years, became starkly evident during Operation Allied Force, according to Navy documents. During the operation, the nation's limited fleet of 104 operational jammers was pressed to its limit by burgeoning requirements for Prowlers to escort all aircraft, including stealthy B-2 and F-117 aircraft, on virtually every mission or strike.

With the aircraft aging, support and maintenance costs also are skyrocketing, according to Navy documents.

All of these reasons have combined to "raise the replacement of the EA-6B to one of [the Pentagon's] absolute highest priority mission needs," according to an Oct. 24 draft of the Navy's mission need statement for an Airborne Electronic Attack capability. "The remaining inventory of Prowlers is expected to be insufficient to meet [defense] needs beyond 2010."

Already, the EA-6B force faces an uphill battle to recover from the havoc of the Kosovo operation, according to the EA-6B Operational Advisory Group's October summary of fleet priorities.

"The most significant near-term challenge facing the EA-6B community is the perpetuating decline in aircraft readiness," according to the group's report. "During Operation Allied Force, EA-6B utilization was near twice wartime utilization."

In fact, the EA-6B force was so heavily used during the Kosovo air campaign that if another conflict erupted, there would have been a shortage of EA-6B aircraft, Mixson said.