Defense Information and Electronics Report
November 8, 2002
Pg. 1

Prowler Praised For Tactical Jamming Role In Afghanistan

NASHVILLE, TN -- In addition to its traditional role of jamming enemy radar, the Navy's EA-6B Prowler was used extensively during Operation Enduring Freedom to jam tactical communications, a mission it will retain in future operations, a Navy official said last week.

"We used the Prowlers in Enduring Freedom during the first three days of combat operations in Afghanistan [in] exactly the traditional [way] that we have always used the Prowler . . . that is survivability -- survivability of our tactical and strategic aircraft," Rear Adm. John Cryer, commander of the naval network and space operations command, said at an electronic warfare conference here Oct. 28.

After the first 72 hours of the air campaign, however, there "was not a single [radar] emitter emitting in Afghanistan," so the EA-6B began to be used to jam Taliban and Al Qaeda command and control communications, Cryer said.

The key to this mission was the Rockwell Collins USQ-113 communications jammer, which was added as an upgrade to the Prowler and became operational for the first EA-6B squadron in 1999.

The USQ-113 is "designed to detect, analyze, monitor, and/or jam voice and datalink signals," according to a Federation of American Scientists fact sheet.

During Enduring Freedom, the Taliban had "a phenomenal reliance on rudimentary communications that we were capable of working over" with the EA-6B, Cryer said. "And it did a terrific job."

The tactical communications jamming mission is one in which the "Prowler is going to continue to play, and play very strongly," he said. However, he stressed it could not "take the place of the terrific national assets that we have in the Compass Call."

The Air Force's EC-130H Compass Call aircraft is the primary Defense Department communications jammer. It flew more than 100 missions during Enduring Freedom, according to an Air Force fact sheet.

"In some ways, it's a very different mission," Cryer said of the Prowler and Compass Call communications jamming capabilities, though he did not give specifics.

"I'll tell you that the EA-6B does bring to the fight something it did not before, and when you start looking at the tactical battlefield -- and how we can shape it -- it is a great asset," he said.

Cryer cited the disruption of Taliban command and control, including its tactical communications, as a key reason for a quick U.S. victory in Afghanistan.

"Trying to get on the radio and getting nothing but static . . . this has a pretty debilitating effect, and I think it snowballed over time," he said.

The Navy is planning an upgrade to the existing USQ-113 capability. While the existing "Rube Goldberg" setup uses a laptop for controlling the communications jammer, the upgrade will be a "much more elegant" configuration, Cryer said.

Though it is a Navy platform, the EA-6B is also flown by Air Force pilots and is the Pentagon's only anti-radar electronic attack asset. However, the Prowler has been operational for more than 30 years and the average age of the aircraft in the fleet is 19 years. Despite ongoing upgrades to its airframe and jamming technology, both the Navy and Air Force are in the process of deciding how to replace it.

An Airborne Electronic Attack Analysis of Alternatives was completed by DOD earlier this year and briefed June 4 to Pete Aldridge, the under secretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics. Cryer said Navy planners had recommended an electronic attack version of the F/A-18, called the E/A-18G, to the chief of naval operations as the service's Prowler replacement, but a final decision on the proposal has not been made. Air Force officials here said the service favors a family of systems for the electronic attack mission, but declined to provide specifics.

DOD's program analysis and evaluation directorate, headed by Stephen Cambone, will be assessing electronic attack alternatives as part of the fiscal year 2004 budget build, Cryer said.

-- Hampton Stephens