You know you're getting old when the last EA-6 squadron is deactivated

Discussion in 'Warfare / Military' started by APACHERAT, Mar 11, 2019.

  1. APACHERAT

    APACHERAT Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Marines Sundown Last EA-6B Prowler Squadron

    [​IMG]

    Not so funny, former Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney canceled the A-6 Intruder replacement, the A-12 Avenger ll and today the U.S. Navy's Carrier Air Wings and Marine Corps Air Wings no longer have deep strike capabilities.

    The same thing happened with the Air Force F-111 but the USAF never had a replacement for the F-111 and the F-15 E just can't fill the F-111 flight boots.

    [​IMG]
    A-12 Avenger ll


     
  2. Questerr

    Questerr Banned

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    The deep strike role for the Navy is taken by cruise missiles and for the Air Force its conventionally armed B-1's and B-2's.
     
  3. vman12

    vman12 Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    "Can Do Easy".
     
  4. Questerr

    Questerr Banned

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    For that matter, the EA-6's role has been overtaken by the EA-18 Growler.
     
  5. APACHERAT

    APACHERAT Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I don't think the EF-18 Growler has all of the capabilities as the EA-6.

    I could be wrong, I'm not an airdale.
     
  6. Questerr

    Questerr Banned

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    It has superior EW capabilities, aka the primary role of the aircraft.
     
  7. APACHERAT

    APACHERAT Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Well it's just another old warbird going to the bone yard.

    In 40 or so years the EF-18 Growler will be going to the bone yard if it has a life span as long as the EA-6 had.

    Well the B-52 is still flying.

    They just don't make them like how they use to.
     
  8. Questerr

    Questerr Banned

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    Likely the Growler will keep flying for a long time. It's not a front line fighter and won't really need to be upgraded, plus stealth defeats the entire purpose of an EW bird. You can't be stealthy when you are jamming.
     
  9. APACHERAT

    APACHERAT Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I'll let someone who's more qualified to respond.

    But nothing is completely invisible and truly stealthy.
     
  10. Mushroom

    Mushroom Well-Known Member

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    And this is a great example of how old some of our equipment is.

    The EA-6 is based on the A-6 Intruder, a Pre-Vietnam era attack aircraft. A ground attack fighter that was designed in 1960 to replace the WWII era A-1 Skyraider. First entering service in 1970, it is once again a piece of equipment that is far older than the pilots that fly them.

    However, one advantage of the EA-18 Growler is that it will undoubtedly make logistics a lot better. Since most of the parts and maintenance is the same as the F/A-18 this will make repair and maintenance a lot easier.
     
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  11. APACHERAT

    APACHERAT Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    The Air Force EF-111 Raven had a really short lifespan (83- 98 )

    From 1998 it was Marine Corps or Navy EA-6's that provided the Air Force with its EW on combat strike missions.

    [​IMG]
    EF-111
     
    Last edited: Mar 11, 2019
  12. Mushroom

    Mushroom Well-Known Member

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    Well, the Aardvark-Raven was primarily retired because they were very maintenance intensive. While it was an amazing aircraft, they required more maintenance hours per flight hour of any aircraft in the inventory. That is why the Royal Australian Air Force retired it in favor of the F/A-18.
     
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  13. Questerr

    Questerr Banned

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    But plenty of aircraft are stealthy enough to evade most target acquisition radars.
     
  14. APACHERAT

    APACHERAT Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Then why do we need the EA-18 Growler ?
     
  15. Questerr

    Questerr Banned

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    Jamming and ECCM have numerous purposes.
     
  16. APACHERAT

    APACHERAT Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    The Marine Corps used the EA-6 and now the EF-18 to support the grunts on the ground by jamming the enemies radio frequencies.
     
    Last edited: Mar 12, 2019
  17. Questerr

    Questerr Banned

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    Exactly. And if you are jamming, you can’t be stealthy.
     
  18. APACHERAT

    APACHERAT Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Why not have U.S. Marines and soldiers wearing Mexican army uniforms ?

    That's pretty stealthy.
     
  19. Questerr

    Questerr Banned

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    Because that would violate the Geneva Conventions.
     
  20. APACHERAT

    APACHERAT Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Like not being able to use a shotgun on the battlefield ?

    U.S. Marines don't pay any attention to the Geneva Convention.

    Shotguns, napalm, submunition bombs, what ever it takes to keep St. Peters happy with freshly new corpses to pass judgement on.
     
  21. Questerr

    Questerr Banned

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    The Geneva Convention doesn’t explicitly ban any of those weapons.
     
  22. APACHERAT

    APACHERAT Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    But they all have been declared to be politically incorrect.
     
  23. Questerr

    Questerr Banned

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    Shotguns are used everyday by US forces and numerous other armies. In fact, their utility has increased as specialized breeching rounds and various non-lethal rounds have been developed.

    Napalm was passed over because we have weapons that are more effective at killing enemies without the huge indiscriminate collateral damage napalm caused. Incendiary weapon’s still exist but they are now almost uniformly fuel-air/thermobaric bunker-defeating munitions.

    Cluster bombs are still used. In fact, the US leads the world in cluster bomb development and we’ve taken great strides in correcting the unsavory nature of cluster munitions with things like GPS guided bomb busses and the sensor-fused munition.
     
  24. APACHERAT

    APACHERAT Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Just saying, the EA-6 Prowler had a long 52 year life span.

    Off to the boneyard where all warbirds eventually end up if the survive.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  25. Questerr

    Questerr Banned

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    I wonder if they’ll get converted into target drones like the F-4’s did.
     

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