Seattle Post-Intelligencer
May 15, 2002

Prowler Replacement Is Still Up In The Air

By James Wallace, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Reporter

ST. LOUIS -- The Boeing Co.'s Growler met the Prowler this week.

On the Prowler's turf in Washington state.

The Growler is a modified version of Boeing's two-seat F-18F Super Hornet. Boeing hopes it will become the replacement for the aging fleet of EA-6B electronic jamming aircraft known as the Prowler, several squadrons of which are based at the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station.

Boeing flew its electronic attack EA-18 test plane, known as the Growler, to the air station this past weekend as part of a classified conference on airborne electronic warfare that began yesterday.

The Defense Department is supposed to decide soon how to best replace the Prowler. The top contenders are Boeing's EA-18 or an electronic jamming version of Lockheed Martin's F-35, previously known as the Joint Strike Fighter.

Restarting the old Prowler line is another option.

This represents a potential $7 billion program for Boeing, assuming the Pentagon buys 104 planes.

Northrop Grumman built the Prowler, but it is teaming with Boeing on the EA-18. Northrop is the principal subcontractor on the Super Hornet and builds a large part of the fuselage. The Super Hornet is assembled in St. Louis.

Boeing lost the JSF competition last year. That hurt.

"I do not want to get into a food fight, but from the Super Hornet's perspective, we are the only platform that can be available when the Navy needs it, which is 2008-2009," said Paul Summers, Boeing's EA-18 program manager.

"We have been at this a long time trying to mature the concept," he said of the EA-18 during a recent interview in his St. Louis office, at the headquarters of Boeing's Military Aircraft and Missile Systems.

The Prowlers have been around much longer. The airframe is based on the 1960s-vintage A6 Intruder.

The Prowlers are due to be retired beginning in 2015. But by 2009 there will be too few of them still flying to support the missions they are needed for. Wing fatigue has become a problem, along with newly discovered fuselage corrosion.

Boeing's EA-18 test plane has been fitted with various electronic jamming pods, as well as two fuel tanks. Few other modifications are needed to change the Super Hornet into an EA-18, Summers said. With the exception of the unique electronics needed for the EA-18, the two planes have about 99 percent commonality, he said.

Boeing has been studying the concept since 1993, when the Pentagon first started asking about a possible Prowler replacement.

It became a full-time project at Boeing about three years ago.

"We are doing everything on our own nickel," Summers said. With one exception -- an electromagnetic compatibility test -- the Navy has provided no funding, he said.

How many nickels?

The number is "well over" $20 million, he said. That includes Northrop nickels, too.

Northrop would supply the plane's electronic attack equipment.

Boeing applied what it learned about new design and manufacturing on JSF to cut Super Hornet costs. That will lead to savings for the EA-18, Summers said.

For example, Boeing has cut about $500,000 from the Super Hornet's $50 million price tag by redesigning the nose using digital manufacturing and fewer parts.

The goal is to reduce the cost of the Super Hornet to around $40 million a copy. The EA-18 would be about 18 percent more expensive than the Super Hornet, he said.

Even assuming a $50 million price, that would mean the EA-18 would cost about $59 million. That's less expensive than the JSF will be in "then-year" dollars, which is the cost of the plane when it enters service, Summers said.

The JSF program aim was to produce an all-purpose strike fighter that would cost about $34 million in 1994 dollars.

"The EA-18 will never be more expensive than JSF in then-year dollars," Summers said. "Don't be misled by the 1994 economics."

Lockheed Martin has said it could have a version of its F-35 available by 2011 for use as an electronic warfare plane. Although the F-35 is a single-seat jet, Lockheed Martin has said it could build a two-seat version if needed as an electronic jamming platform.

"We don't have to modify our plane at all like JSF would have to do," Summers noted.

Boeing, still smarting over the JSF loss, clearly does not believe its Growler will lose to Lockheed Martin when it comes to replacing the Prowler.

"There is no concept that is more mature," Summers said. "We are ready to go."