EA-6 Prowler
A U.S. Navy EA-6B Prowler
Description
Role	Electronic attack
Crew	Four: pilot and three electronic countermeasures officers
Dimensions
Length	59 ft 10 in	17.7 m
Wingspan	53 ft	15.9 m
Height	16 ft 8 in	4.9 m
Wing area	528.9 ft²	49.1 m²
Weights
Empty	34,000 lb	15,450 kg
Loaded
Maximum take-off	61,500 lb	27,500 kg
Powerplant
Engines	2 × Pratt & Whitney J52-P408A turbojets
Thrust	10,400 lbf	46 kN
Performance
Maximum speed	575 mph	920 km/h
Combat range
Ferry range	2,022 mi (tanks kept) 2,400 mi (tanks dropped)	3,254 km 3,861 km
Service ceiling	37,600 ft	11,500 m
Rate of climb	12,900 ft/min	3,932 m/min
Armament
Guns	None
Missiles	Up to 4 HARM AGM-88 antiradar missiles

The EA-6 Prowler is the United States Navy's and the United States Marine Corps's primary electronic warfare aircraft. The primary mission of the aircraft is to support strike aircraft and ground troops by interrupting enemy electronic activity and obtaining tactical electronic intelligence within a combat area.

Development

The EA-6B Prowler is a twin-engine, mid-wing aircraft manufactured by Northrop Grumman Aerospace Corporation as a modification of the basic A-6 Intruder air frame. Designed for carrier and advanced base operations, the Prowler is a fully integrated electronic warfare system combining long-range, all-weather capabilities with advanced electronic countermeasures. A forward equipment bay and pod-shaped faring on the vertical fin house the additional avionics equipment.

The Prowler has a crew of four, a pilot and three Electronic Counter-measures Officers (known as ECMOs). Powered by two non-afterburning Pratt & Whitney J52-P408 turbojet engines, it is capable of speeds of up to 950 km/h with a range of 1,840 kilometers. Since EW operations is very demanding, the Prowler is a high-maintenance aircraft and undergoes frequent equipment upgrades more than any other aircraft in the Navy.

Although primarily designed as an electronic escort and command and control platform for strike missions, the EA-6B is also capable of attacking surface targets on its own especially radars, SAM launchers, and other enemy defenses. The AGM-88 HARM (High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile ) is the primary offensive strike weapon of the Prowler. In addition, the aircraft is highly capable of conducting electronic intelligence (ELINT) collection.

An earlier EA-6A "Electric Intruder" was developed during the Vietnam War. Basically a straightforward conversion of the standard two-seat A-6 airframe fitted with EW equipment, it was essentially an interim aircraft used only by a few USMC squadrons.

The much more advanced and substantially redesigned EA-6B first flew on 25 May 1968 and entered service with VAQ-132 'Scorpions' in July 1971 and saw combat in Vietnam a few months later.

About 125 Prowlers remain today, divided between 12 Navy, 4 Marine, and 4 joint Navy-Air Force squadrons. When the US Air Force retired the EF-111 Raven, an aircraft similar in mission to the EA-6B, because of budget cuts the Navy agreed to share with it a number of "expeditionary" Prowler squadrons composed of Navy and USAF personnel.

Though it remains in service today, the EA-6B Prowler is slated to be replaced after 2009 by the EF-18G, a new electronic warfare derivative of the F/A-18E Super Hornet.

Units using the EA-6B

USN squadrons

• VAQ-128 Phoenix (disestablished 2004)
• VAQ-129 Vikings
• VAQ-130 Zappers
• VAQ-131 Lancers
• VAQ-132 Scorpions
• VAQ-133 Wizards
• VAQ-134 Garudas
• VAQ-135 Black Ravens
• VAQ-136 Gauntlets
• VAQ-137 Rooks
• VAQ-138 Yellow Jackets
• VAQ-139 Cougars
• VAQ-140 Patriots
• VAQ-141 Shadowhawks
• VAQ-142 Grey Wolves

USMC squadrons

• VMAQ-1 Banshees
• VMAQ-2 Death Jesters
• VMAQ-3 Moon Dogs
• VMAQ-4 Seahawks

Incidents

• It was an USMC EA-6B Prowler that caused the Cavalese cable-car disaster in 1998, cutting the cables of a ski-lift in Italy and killing 20.
• In 1979 an EA-6B crashed onto the flight deck of the USS Nimitz and caused a blaze, killing the flight crew and several deck personnel.
• Despite the fact that to date no Prowler has ever been lost in combat, about forty were already destroyed in various accidents.