Growler's ALQ-99 jammer pods (photo : ipmslondon)
The US Navy
(USN) will dip into its own inventory to supply Australia with the ALQ-99
jammer pods it needs for its future Boeing EA-18G fleet. The southwest Pacific
nation is converting 12 of its 24 Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornets into the
electronic attack Growler configuration.
While the
low-band transmitter for the ALQ-99 suite is relatively new and in production,
the mid-band jammers are not in production.
"We
will be teaming with Cobham, Lansdale, Pennsylvania, to deliver low band
transmitters to the RAAF [Royal Australian Air Force]," says the Naval Air
Systems Command (NAVAIR). "The remainder of the transmitters and ancillary
equipment--radomes, hardbacks, ram air turbines and universal exciters--will be
provided as refurbished out of USN/USMC [United States Marine Corps] excess
inventory."
The USN says
that it expects to transition its forces to the Next Generation Jammer that is
currently being developed.
"With
the Next Generation Jammer IOC [initial operational capability] scheduled for
2018, we expect that the RAAF, USN and USMC will be using the ALQ-99 pods for
one to two years until the USMC retires its ICAP [Improved Capability] III
EA-6Bs in 2019," NAVAIR says. That will leave "just the RAAF and the
USN as ALQ-99 users until the Next Generation Jammer comes online in adequate
numbers for the USN to retire the ALQ-99."
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar