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Reply With QuoteYou're not going to see any reports of how effective they were.
The US Navy's newest electronic warfare asset, the EF-18G "Growler", was blooded in the skies over Libya this past week. No reports yet on how effective the new aircraft were.
From npr.org:
"The U.S. military announced that Navy electronic warfare aircraft and Marine Corps attack jets joined the international assault early Sunday. Navy EA-18G Growlers launched from unspecified land bases to provide electronic warfare support over Libya. Marine AV-8B Harriers from the USS Kearsarge sailing in the Mediterranean conducted strikes against Gadhafi's ground forces and air defenses."
Mullen Says Gadhafi Could Cling To Power : NPR
"Yeah. See, we plan ahead, that way we don't do anything right now. Earl explained it to me." - Tremors, 1990
You're not going to see any reports of how effective they were.
The very specific single base they're at has been all over the news for at least a week...Originally Posted by Stitch
Pic: Reuters.
News flash.
"We will go through our federal budget – page by page, line by line – eliminating those programs we don’t need, and insisting that those we do operate in a sensible cost-effective way." -President Barack Obama 11/25/2008
What is the load-out there. In board fuel tanks and ?The very specific single base they're at has been all over the news for at least a week...
Pic: Reuters.
Three ALQ-99 pods on middle wing pylons and centerline. Tactical jammers. Standard ALQ-218 on wingtips.
Combat mission would additionally carry two HARM on the outermost wing pylons and two AMRAAM or Sidewinder outboard of landing gear on fuselage mount points.
When it comes to Electronic Warfare, the Americans have quite a lead over the rest of the world. Even before American military hardware is put into real battle, the sheer testing they are put through makes it so reliable. I am glad that PAF's F16 fleet will be equipped with the latest ALQ211(V9) AIDEWS pods, this will make them so lethal.
Meh, with a lot of other countries' programs it's just not as public. EuroDASS just isn't as well-known as e.g. SPECTRA. And TSPJ 8 with Sky Buzzer is even more obscure than ALQ-211.
The ALQ-99 on the Growlers above in its basic form is almost 40 years old, and even the current ICAP III version is over ten years old technology. There's elements in the USN that consider it completely obsolete against current threats. The NGJ program that's supposed to replace it continues dragging on.
Last edited by kato; 27 Mar 11, at 02:22.
I think like any sensitive technology, there are layers of what is known and released, and capabilities that remain highly classified, if not outright black/SAR. And I have no doubt that the latest equipment from major European makers is every bit as capable, if not more so.
I'm guessing it boils down to ELINT. If a nation can gather good ELINT on the thread frequencies and waveforms, then countermeasures can be created. But that assumes that the threat trains with war-time EM characteristics. With modern digital advances in hardware, it is very possible that the SAM or AI radar user can flip a guarded switch, and take their system into new modes of operating.
It's come a long way from hard-wired AI radars on a fixed frequency, and simple non-agile VHF voice comm.
I did find that very interesting; even Wikipedia listed the bases as "NAS Sigonella and Aviano Air Base."The very specific single base they're at has been all over the news for at least a week...
Pic: Reuters.
"Yeah. See, we plan ahead, that way we don't do anything right now. Earl explained it to me." - Tremors, 1990
Sigonella is home to the Global Hawk [s]wing[/s] squadron (it's the NATO AGS homebase), no Growlers there to my knowledge.
Those two are the only USAF-affiliated bases in the central mediterranean area. They can't really base out of anywhere else. Next active stations would be Rota NS in Spain, Ramstein AB in Germany and Incirlik AB in eastern Turkey. Oh yeah, Decimomannu on Sardinia of course (as an official NATO base), but that one's German.
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