Aviation Week & Space Technology
December 24/31, 2001
Pg. 41

Fleet Seeks Better Jammers

By David A. Fulghum and Robert Wall, Washington

The U.S. Navy said it needs improved standoff and escort jamming aircraft as part of a more flexible tactical air arm that offers stealth aircraft and an array of standoff weapons that include the long-range Tomahawk and Jassm missiles.

"There has been a lot of focus on stealth invulnerability, [but] stealth is a bumper sticker," said Vice Adm. Dennis McGinn, the Navy's requirements chief. "It's only through a combination of factors that you achieve true invulnerability." That combination encompasses a modern jamming capability that encompasses small missiles, UAVs, the F/A-18G and, possibly, a JSF variant someday.

"WE'RE LOOKING FOR THE replacement for EA-6B," McGinn said. "The [option] that makes sense to us is the F-18G with two seats in it and the ICAP-III upgrade. Come 2004, we're going to make a decision on how we're going to go on this. It's a question of how fast, based on continuing analysis of EA-6B service life, cost of ownership and ICAP-III development. We watch the fleet's health very closely. When we see issues of fatigue and reduced service life or increased cost, it causes us to look harder at the schedule of replacement for EA-6B."

Navy officials got a shock earlier this month when several EA-6Bs were grounded, and flight restrictions were issued for others because wing center sections were aging faster than expected. Congress has rushed to provide money for new replacement sections, but Navy officials fear more bad news on maintenance is ahead.

Any thoughts of an F-35 jamming variant are very distant. "Right now, in talking to the JSF program team, there is no money in the development program to do anything with a two-seat version or advanced electronic attack aircraft," McGinn said. "We would not want to add that program cost and risk to JSF because it has so much importance to all the services and international partners. This is not the right time to pile on another mission. So you lay out the likely [operational dates] for the various services, and you look at the likely end of service life for EA-6B; it's not a match."

However, the Navy is looking at other adjunct options such as unmanned aircraft and large, standoff jamming aircraft. "You really do need a combination of sensors, jammers, platforms to give you the flexibility you want," he said.

RESPONDING TO THE Air Force's avowed interest in fielding its own tactical jamming aircraft, McGinn said that either a joint EW force or two coordinated programs would benefit the U.S.

"I think we may be able to arrive at an architecture in which the Air Force contributes to overall survivability of the strike force with their platforms and systems, and we contribute with the F-18G," he said. "If there is an identified need for an AF-unique tactical jammer, we will obviously share everything [with the Air Force] from our experience in operating the EA-6B. If there is going to be an expedition role for the EA-6B follow-on [aircraft, we also] would be keenly interested in having Air Force crews, so that all the services benefit from having a cadre of informed specialists that knows the mission well."

"I think both joint and independent EW organizations are viable; it depends on how the investment decisions are made as to which service has the preponderance of people already in the mission," McGinn said. "I don't see us creating an all-joint electronic surveillance-attack community. I think we'll do it like we do now where the services [combine] capabilities."