美 해군의 EA-18G Growler 운용소식...

 

AW&ST Blog 에 올라온 미 해군의 EA-18G Growler 배치와 관련된 소식을 소개합니다. 미 해군은 일단 Growler 의 성능에

대해서 만족하고 있다는 내용입니다.

 

또한 기존 EA-6B Prowler 에는 조종사와 EWO 등 모두 4명이 탑승하였으나, Growler 에서 2명이 자동화된 전자전 장비를

바탕으로 효율적으로 전자전을 수행할 수 있고, 이에 대한 전환교육이 순조로이 이루어지고 있다고 합니다.

 

정비 효율성에 있어서도 EA-6B Prolwer 가 1회 작전 후 정비에 소요되는 시간이 30 man-hour 인 반면, Growler 의 경우

1회 비행 후 소요되는 정비시간은 약 1.6 시간이라 합니다. 30 man-hour 라는 개념이 순간 인력을 얼마만큼 투입하느냐에

따라 다소 유동적인 개념의 시간 입니다만, 일단 Growler 의 정비 효율성을 강조하는 비교로 생각됩니다.

 

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Ares

A Defense Technology Blog 

Growler Grows Up

Posted by Robert Wall at 7/1/2010 7:06 AM CDT 

 

The U.S. Navy’s efforts to ready the growing EA-18G Growler fleet for operational use are ramping up.

 

Having declared initial operational capability with the new electronic attack aircraft last year with VAQ-132, efforts are now underway to increase the number of squadrons and train personnel. When the first EA-18Gs will deploy operationally is not yet clear, but VAQ-141, which has also transitioned to the aircraft, is expected to be the first squadron to embark on an aircraft carrier, Navy officials indicate.

 

The EA-18G is meeting performance requirements, but the electronic attack community clearly also is still working through some of the transition issues, particularly as they result from shifting to two-person crew arrangement from a four-person aircraft, according to Navy personnel detailed who detailed their transition efforts from the venerable EA-6B Prowler to the EA-18G during a recent visit by several reporters to the aircraft’s home base, the Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Wash.

 

“The community is still in its infancy and still trying to figure out how to best use the system” says Lt. Cmdr. Travis Inouye, another VAQ-129 pilot.

 

So far there are no major complaints with the hardware and software, though. “Every system works on the jet,” notes Lt. Mathew Driskill, an instructor at VAQ-129, the Navy’s EA-18G transition squadron. 

 

One of the main issues now being worked through is “crew coordination standardization,” Inouye adds. For now, the syllabus remains in flux and there is no set definition, yet, on what elements of the electronic attack mission the pilot will take on versus what is the responsibility of the electronic warfare officer.

 

On the Prowler 一 with its two crew in the front seats and two in the back 一 personnel have a sense of what the operator next to them is doing, which eases the coordination process and builds a level of trust between personnel. That’s not the case on the EA-18G, where the EWO sits behind the pilot with no direct visibility into what the other is doing.

 

On the other hand, on the EA-18G the pilot is much more integrated in the electronic attack mission and, says Driskill, “the front seat has the full capability to operate the [airborne electronic attack systems].” The pilot will be responsible for all safety of flight elements of a mission, but operators say the aircraft is relatively easy to fly, so there is time for electronic warfare roles. Still, the level of involvement in electronic attack activities will be heavily dependent on how much flying has to be done.

 

Advanced tactics will be taught elsewhere, although the Navy has only begun the discussions to prepare that work and also to stand up a course at the Navy Fighter Weapons School at NAS Fallon, Calif.

 

VAQ-129 typically flies without the ALQ-99 jamming pod or other stores because the training can be done without the drag of the pods. Much of the training is done around Whidbey, although units also go to Fallon to exercise on the ranges there.

 

Once deployed, it will be left to units to decide whether pilots and EWOs are paired permanently or whether the teams will rotate. In most cases a junior EWO and senior pilot would work together, or vice versa.

 

One big plus of the new aircraft should be reliability. Aviation Structural Mechanic David Schuster, a Navy technician notes that the EA-6B required about 30 man-hours per flight hour of maintenance; on the Growler that figure is to be around 1.6 hours per flight.

 

There is still room for growth in the system. For instance, the APG-79 active electronically scanned array radar is not, yet, integrated with the jamming system.

 

The Navy’s EA-6Bs, which still dominate the landscape at Whidbey Island, are due to be retired in 2013, leaving the U.S. Marine Corps as the sole operator. Meanwhile, the Navy hopes to transition two squadrons a year to the Growler; that effort is now underway for VAQ-138. Each squadron will operate aircraft (VAQ-129 is an exception owing to its training role).

 

 

  EA-18G Growler ⓒ U.S. Navy