NavyTimes.com
December 4, 2001

Eight Prowlers Grounded Due To Wing Defect

By David Brown, Times staff writer

Eight of the Navy’s valuable EA-6B Prowler aircraft have been grounded to replace cracks in their wings — a problem due to the planes being used at a much higher rate than anticipated.

The radar-jamming aircraft were grounded Nov. 28 after officials deemed the jets had "accrued an unacceptably high level of fatigue damage and consequently have too great a potential for in-flight catastrophic failure of the wing," said Renee Hatcher, a spokeswoman for Naval Air Systems Command. None of the eight jets are operating in forward-deployed units, she said.

The problem, which affects all Prowlers built before 1975, involves the aluminum used to build the inner panels of the center section of the aircraft’s wing, according to a Navy budget document.

The metal is "subject to embrittlement and fatigue," the document states. As a result, the Navy restricted the flight envelope of 51 Prowlers — roughly 40 percent of the Prowler fleet — to stave off the wear and tear on the wings. But the cracks continued to grow, even with the restrictions.

Besides the eight aircraft that were grounded, the Navy has identified 17 other Prowlers that are rapidly deteriorating, according to the document.

The Navy and Marine Corps now operate 122 Prowlers, following two Prowler crashes within the past month. The carrier-based aircraft, built by Northrop Grumman, are the only airborne electronic jammers in the U.S. military.

The Navy had already requested $137.6 million in the fiscal 2002 budget to replace the wing sections in 10 aircraft. The sea service is now asking for an additional $35 million to replace eight more in the coming year.