InsideDefense.com
July 25, 2002

Marines To Stick With EA-6B As Medium-Term Jammer Through At Least 2012

FARNBOROUGH, ENGLAND -- Senior Marine Corps officials say the service will stick with the EA-6B Prowler as the Marines' medium-term electronic attack aircraft even after the Navy phases its Prowlers out of service.

Deputy Commandant for Aviation Lt. Gen. William Nyland said at the Farnborough International Air Show that keeping the Marine Corps EA-6B fleet in service until the 2012-2015 time frame is "certainly doable."

The Marine Corps would take the most capable Prowlers, and those with the most remaining life, and convert them to Marine service. The aircraft of choice would be selected "as the Navy divests itself" of its Northrop Grumman EA-6Bs.

Nyland referred to the strategy this week as "taking the best of the lot."

Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Jones added that the extra years of service this plan enables would allow the service to keep open its options for a follow-on electronic attack aircraft.

The results of the Pentagon's classified, joint electronic attack analysis of alternatives have not been released, but the Navy is widely believed to favor buying an electronic attack variant of the Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet, nicknamed the "Growler."

The Marines will keep on eye on the capabilities offered by the Growler before making a decision on a replacement platform "later," Jones said.

The Marines "would like to retain the jamming mission" even beyond 2015, he said. By that time, an electronic attack variant of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter -- a platform the Marines are buying, unlike the Super Hornet -- would also be an option.

The Air Force and Marine Corps have not identified the F/A-18G option as a leading candidate for the airborne EA mission, partly because those services, unlike the Navy, are not buying the Super Hornet for other missions.

One industry executive, questioned about the strategy this week, said the Marine Corps decision to stick with Prowlers for the time being is most likely financial, given that funding to buy a replacement platform is unlikely to materialize this decade. The Marines are committed to upcoming purchases of JSFs and Bell-Boeing V-22 Ospreys.

The Prowler has been the Pentagon's only airborne EA platform since the Air Force retired its fleet of EF-111 Raven aircraft last decade. EA-6Bs are now flown by Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force crews; and they are considered high-demand, low density assets.

Three factors -- the Prowlers' age, their frequent use and a need to pull airframes out of service for upgrades -- will lead the Navy to begin purchasing a replacement platform in the next few years.

The existing Prowlers are undergoing significant upgrades and modifications. Northrop Grumman is replacing the center-wing section in many of the aircraft, and the Improved Capabilities-III program is supplying EA-6Bs with more advanced jammers.

Jones has been selected to become the next NATO supreme allied commander for Europe but has not been confirmed for the post by the Senate. Nyland has been chosen to serve as Marine Corps deputy commandant. Maj. Gen. Mike Hough, assistant deputy commandant for aviation and former JSF program director, is slated to replace Nyland as the top uniformed Marine Corps aviation official.

-- Adam J. Hebert