Last Navy EA-6B “Prowler”
27 MAY 2015
LAST NAVY EA-6B “PROWLER”
On this day the last of the Navy’s premier electronics countermeasures (ECM) aircraft, the Northrop-Grumman EA-6B “Prowler,” was retired after a short flight from Squadron VAQ-134 at Whidbey Island to the Seattle Museum of Flight. The VAQ-134 “Garudas” had completed the last carrier deployment of the Prowler the previous November, aboard USS GEORGE W. BUSH (CVN-77), conducting combat missions against ISIS in Syria and Iraq.
The retirement of the post-WWII EF-10B “Skyknight” aircraft during the Vietnam conflict prompted the US Marines to develop a more robust airborne ECM capability. Using the existing A-6 “Intruder” two-seater attack airframe, the Marines built what became the EA-6A. A total of 27 were built, deployed in three USMC squadrons, and in 1966 the EA-6A began replacing the EKA-3B “Skywarrior” version of the A-3. Indeed, the success of the EA-6A spurred a $12.7 billion contract with Grumman for a permanent version. The resulting EA-6B “Prowler” first flew on 25 May 1968 and entered carrier-based service in July 1971. The EA-6B significantly improved the ECM and radar jamming functions of the EA-6A, with a lengthened fuselage allowing the mounting of four seats, for a pilot and three Electronic Countermeasures Officers (ECMOs). Later versions added AGM-88 HARM anti-radar missiles and electronic intelligence capabilities. EA-6Bs flew 720 sorties during Vietnam in support of ground attacks and B-52 missions.
In the 1980s Prowlers from INDEPENDENCE (CV-62) supported the invasion of Grenada and participated in the capture of the Achille Lauro hijackers. In 1986-88 EA-6Bs jammed enemy radars during Operations El Dorado Canyon and Praying Mantis, and in Operation Desert Storm Navy and Marine Prowlers flew 1648 radar jamming and HARM strike missions. The retirement of the Air Force’s EF-111 “Raven” in 1998 left the EA-6B as our nation’s only ECM platform and insured her continued service well beyond the retirement of the parent A-6 “Intruder” on 28 February 1997.
Of the 170 EA-6Bs built, none were lost to combat. Accidents did claim over 50 aircraft. On 26 May 1981 a USMC Prowler nearly out of fuel crashed onto the flight deck of NIMITZ (CVN-68) killing 14 and injuring 45 in the fires that resulted. And it was a Prowler that clipped a ski lift cable at the Italian resort of Cavalese during a terrain-following run on 3 February 1998, sending the gondola and 20 victims crashing into the valley below.
The EA-6B served for over four decades with 15 Navy and four USMC squadrons. Though retired by the Navy, the Prowler continued in service with the Marines until their airborne electronics warfare capability was written out of the FY2018 budget.
Watch for more “Today in Naval History” 31 MAY 22
CAPT James Bloom, Ret.
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ADDITIONAL NOTES: For anyone working flight operations, the Prowler’s twin Pratt & Whitney turbojet engines were known to be some of the loudest on any Navy aircraft!