VIRGINIA BEACH — Today the Navy holsters the F-14 Tomcat, the top gun in its Cold War arsenal and one of the most recognizable warplanes in history.Maintenance costs for the F-14 have soared, and its replacement, the F/A-18 Super Hornet, is more versatile and cheaper to maintain.
Boeing’s [BA] EA-18G Growler Monday flew for the first time with its external fuel tanks and Northrop Grumman’s [NOC] ALQ-99 electronic attack pods, prior to being ferried to Patuxent River Navy Air Station, Md., for chamber and flight tests, according to a Boeing official.The Growler, dubbed EA-1 flew for two hours over St. Louis, Mo., to check out the aircraft’s instrumentation, Mike Gibbons, EA-18G program manager for Boeing, told Defense Daily.
Tomcat and Growler in the same blog entry?
Like a Tiger and a Hippo. A Corvette and a LeBaron convertible. A brat and a hotdog. Well…you know.
B2
The 22nd Law of the Navy:
It is ill for the winners to worry,
Take thy fate as it comes, with a smile,
And when thou art safe in the harbour
They may envy, but will not revile.
Cue snarking…
Cap’n Lex – you must be a paid subscriber at Defense Daily…. I’m not. Does the Growler actually look any different than an FA-18F with some pods?
Winners? WTFO? Big deal. Even I buy a new car every 15 years or so. What harbor? Davis-Monthan?
Must I say the Hornets have won! Let us proclaim the ascedancy of the Hornet! The Grumman era is done! More with less! Spin spin spin!
All I know about dat Growler is that it’s got a long way to in DT and that I’m not going outside without my earplugs! As Jack A. says “Don’t count your chickens lest they hatch”!
I wonder how fast it’ll take the Turkey drivers union to put out “The Last Flyby” video from the really “big shew” this week. I guess next Monday.
Check out the sponsors of the shin-dig:
http://www.tomcat-sunset.org/sponsorship/
B2
PS- Can’t I be ironical once in a while?
SGT. Jeff, go here:
http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/military/ea18g/index.html
And sorry, I’ll still play my Harpoon with Tomcats, Intruders, Vikings, and Prowlers
The Growler will have more on aircraft electronic attack capability than any other aircraft in the world.
2 things are unproven. One is fundamental range and onsta time. Think about all those sustems and then think about how best to exploit them over a battlefield such as Iraq. See my point? I am sure it will pass DT because…well..it did as an F/A last time. The second is crew size. Yes we have the ability to automate with software but since when can you do an effective job on two tasks at once? Perhaps the software will make the call….gulp.
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The “Electric Bug” flew for two hours – Huzzah! Huzzah!
All I know is that with a projected delivery to the fleet time of 2009, it will be up to the Grumman Ironworks’ EA-6B to carry the EW ball should the balloon (or however you spell it in Farsi) goes up in the next three years or so.
Grummans forever!