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<< Previous   of   Next >> Michael O’Leary / The Herald  (click to enlarge) An EA-18G Growler is on display at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island last year. The new electronic warfare aircraft replaces the EA-6B Prowler.   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Wednesday, September 30, 2009 Whidbey Growlers ready for service By Gale Fiege Herald Writer OAK HARBOR — The Navy has taken another step in the transition from Prowler to Growler. Just more than a year after it welcomed its first EA-18G Growler jet to the base, Naval Air Station Whidbey Island has been given official notification that Electronic Attack Squadron VAQ-132 is now “safe for flight.” The Growler is a radar-jamming jet that by 2012 is scheduled to replace the EA-6B Prowler, which first went into service in 1971. Like the Prowler, the Growler can fly from the decks of aircraft carriers. The squadron got the word last week that Capt. Tom Slais, commander of Electronic Attack Wing of the Pacific Fleet, is satisfied that the local Navy fliers and their crews are ready to go. The VAQ-132 Scorpions plan to commemorate the milestone with a ceremony at 1 p.m. Friday in hangar 5 at Ault Field. Slais plans to speak at the event, which is set to include a Growler fly-over. The squadron recently returned from a successful aircraft carrier detachment aboard the USS Harry S. Truman off the Virginia coast with a 100 percent qualification rate, NAS Whidbey spokeswoman Kimberly Martin said. Each pilot completed a series of day and night landings to become certified to fly the fleet’s newest jet aboard Navy aircraft carriers. Since February, VAQ-132 has been working on the transition to the Growler under the guidance of personnel in the VAQ-129, the fleet’s replacement squadron in charge of training the transition aircrews. The Navy rolled out the new Growler during a big ceremony in June 2008. The Growler is based on Boeing’s two-seat, twin-engine F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter jet, with electronic systems built by Northrop-Grumman for the aircraft’s airborne electronic attack missions. The Growler is used to jam enemy radar and radio communications in the air and on the ground. The Growler, with its advanced technology and easier maintenance, has an onboard crew of two, smaller than the Prowler’s crew of four. Eventually, when the transition is complete, training flights over Island, Skagit and Snohomish county neighborhoods should be a littler quieter, Navy personnel have said. Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427, gfiege@heraldnet.com. READER COMMENTS Log in or register to post new comment | Log out Replacing the Prowler Before you get too angry about the new EF-18Gs and their placement at Whidbey Island, consider these points: 1. The EA-6B is over 30 years old. Can you imagine driving a 30 year old car that was routinely bounced up and down on a steel ship in the salt air? They can't last forever, they have to be replaced. 2. A total of 170 EA-6Bs were made for the Navy & Marine Corps, and 42 EF-111s were made for the Air Force. Today, there are fewer than 125 EA-6Bs and 0 EF-111s handling the tactical electronic warfare mission for the Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force. We have reduced our total number of tactical jamming aircraft by over 40%. 3. The new EF-18Gs have a crew of 2 instead of 4. That means we are reducing the number of aviators that need to be trained and paid as well. 4. NAS Whidbey has been in operation since 1942. This is not a new base, it is an existing base. It makes more sense to site Naval aircraft on a sparsely inhabited island near the sea than it does to site them in a densely populated urban area. 5. The DOD has only purchased 57 EF-18 Growlers. No more than 90 aircraft will ever be made, so the total number of tactical jamming aicraft will be far less than the total number of aircraft operational today. The tactical electronic warfare (EW) mission is nothing new. This is not an expansion of the warfare/welfare state. The EW mission includes electronic surveillance (locating missile sites, radars, and ships) and jamming. Tactical jamming helps our strikers complete their missions without losing American lives or aircraft. Hopefully, this will give you a bit more perspective on the introduction of a replacement tactical electronic warfare aircraft to Washington state. V Emery | Oct 1, 2009 7:19 pm | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Whidbey Growlers Why do we need more planes to take domination by force through wars of choice. Why does the military need more land, 100,000 more acres at Ft. Campbell KY, another 90,000 acres in CA, more land through the trumped up APZ (Accident Potential Zone) on Whidbey, another 3,000 acres to serve Oceana VA the list goes on and on? Wasn't the purpose of BRAC to cut military spending? Why does the public tolerate military expansion? No one wants louder noise, 150 decibels from the new Growler, or pollution from ammunition. A military base only results in lower land values, loss of quality of life and financial loss to property owners. On top of that the noise is invasive and relentless. How much is the public expected to endure for the military? They have a choice civilians do not. ArmsR4hugs | Sep 30, 2009 1:25 pm | 1 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Please open your eyes @ArmsR4hugs, with all due respect, please open your eyes to the world around you. Why do we have our military? Why do we expand our military? The answer is to protect our country and our world. I think almost all people would love to live in a world where we didn't need to spend money on police and military, where everyone gets along, treats each other with respect and there is no violence. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen. You may not like it, but police and the military are vital to protecting me and you from "the bad guys". I hate to tell you, but extremists (Al-Quaeda, for example) hate you. They want to kill you. If you open your arms for a hug, they'll stab or shoot you. Should we welcome these people into our country to slaughter us? (Please, please, don't spam me for being racist or anti-Muslim. I'm not. I'm against the terrorists. There are extremists Atheists, Christians, etc. that are just as bad) You can't reason with a terrorists. You can't dialogue with them, or work out our differences with peace or love. Force is the only thing they understand. Until we achieve utopia or heaven or whatever, we need the military and I am thankful for them. Everytime we see or hear those planes, I make sure my boys know that that is a great sound, that's the sound of our protection and freedom. Brian Maddux | Oct 1, 2009 10:35 am | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Congratulations! Come fly over my house a few times, please! Birdwatcher | Sep 30, 2009 12:15 pm | 1 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal

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