RAAF’s first Growler during a July 29, 2015 ceremony in Boeing’s plant in St. Louis, Mo. USNI News Photo
The U.S. Navy is monitoring an incident involving a Royal Australian Air Force EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft that caught fire during the Red Flag multi-national exercise at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada over the weekend.
USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) on May 20, 2016. US Navy Photo
There has been a lively debate in recent years over whether the appurtenance of American military might—the supercarrier—will be rendered irrelevant, even obsolescent, by the burgeoning anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) systems of the likes of China and Russia should war ever break out between them and Washington. This state of affairs is not helped by a glaring capability shortfall the U.S. Navy faces currently and in the foreseeable future: the lack of a carrier-based deep-strike aircraft due to the relatively short “legs” of its mainstay Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet attack fighter as well as the upcoming Lockheed Martin F-35C Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). Read More
Two U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets from Strike Fighter Squadron 31 fly a combat patrol over Afghanistan on Dec. 15, 2008. US Air Force Photo
The Navy’s replacement for its Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fleet may not just be a single aircraft but several systems to fill the strike and air warfare missions in the carrier air-wing. Read More
Image of the crashed Super Hornet via KFSN ABC 30
A Boeing F/A-18E Super Hornet crashed just outside the limits of Naval Air Station Lemoore, Calif. on Monday, according to a statement from the service. Read More
The Royal Australian Air Force’s first EA-18G Growler during its first flight on July 13. Boeing Photo
This post has been updated to correct a mention of a system found on the U.S. Navy’s EA-18G Growler. It fields an ALQ-218 Radar Warning Receiver / Electronic Support Measures / Electronic Intelligence (RWR/ESM/ELINT) Sensor System, not an ALQ-210.
ST. LOUIS, MO.— The lessons learned from the U.S. Navy’s strikes in Libya informed features on Australia’s planned fleet of a dozen Boeing E/A-18G Growler electronic attack jets, U.S. Navy officials and the former head of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) officials told reporters on Wednesday. Read More
F/A-18 Super Hornets assigned to the “Black Aces” of Strike Fighter Squadron Forty One (VFA-41) fly over the Western Pacific Ocean in a stack formation in October 2013. US Navy photo.
Boeing is taking steps to keep its F-18 production line open for future Navy and international sales based on positive signs from multiple sources, the company told USNI News. Read More
An artist’s concept of a proposed Lockheed Martin UCLASS design. Lockheed Martin Image
The Navy’s planned carrier-based unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) will help the service in a transition from manned strike aircraft to a future autonomous strike platform, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus said on Wednesday. Read More
Arleigh-Burke class guided-missile destroyer USS Preble (DDG-88) underway on April 18, 2015. US Navy Photo
The House Armed Services Committee added $120 million to pay for a total of three Aegis combat system upgrades to the Navy’s Arleigh Burke guided missile destroyers (DDG-51) as part of the chairman’s mark for the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act. Read More
F-22 Raptors deployed to Kadena Air Base, Japan, trained with U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets April 26, 2007, near the waters of Okinawa. US Navy Photo
The Navy and the Air Force could team up for their early look into their next crop of fighters due out in 2030, the Navy’s director of air warfare told USNI News on Thursday. Read More
An E/A-18G Growler from the Shadowhawks of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 141 prepares to make an arrested landing on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) on Nov. 3, 2014. US Navy photo.
The Pentagon’s new Electronic Warfare (EW) Executive Committee was created this week to refocus the services on matters of EW strategy and operational capability, according to the memo signed Tuesday establishing the committee. Read More
