OAK HARBOR – From high above a battlefield, U.S. Navy Prowlers troll for communications and radar signatures that might indicate an attack on U.S. forces.
The clearer the picture for the Prowler fliers, the better it is for the ground troops or pilots who might be targets.
Now the picture is getting even clearer.
Fliers from Electronic Attack Squadron 139 recently returned from six months in and around Iraq with new equipment geared to gather more vital information and make it more useful, quicker.
The squadron is the first of the EA-6B Prowlers from Whidbey Island Naval Air Station to have been deployed to a battle theater with the new equipment.
The updated technology increases the ability of fliers to detect and pinpoint radar or communications that could be a threat.
Called the Improved Capability III, the electronic jamming and detection system is the latest generation of gear aimed at maintaining U.S. superiority in the air.
“It gives me so much more accuracy. I can geo-locate with it,” said Cmdr. Chuck Luttrell, squadron commanding officer.
For example, a threat can be fixed to within a couple of degrees, instead of approximately 10 or 11 degrees, he said. That information can then be radioed to air or ground forces.
The squadron recently returned from deployment aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and support of allied forces in Iraq.
Since the Vietnam era, Prowlers have had an essential role in jamming enemy radar and communications.
The new equipment is considerably more accurate and powerful and easier to maintain, Luttrell said.
“By increasing situational awareness and effectiveness of jamming command and control and weapons systems, we reduce the exposure to enemy fire,” Luttrell said.
In Iraq, the squadron assisted U.S. ground forces, locating signals from possible insurgent strongholds and alerting the troops.
The ICAP III system will be included with the EA-18G, the fast electronic warfare jet that’s scheduled to start replacing the Prowler in about two years.
Luttrell is enthusiastic about the ICAP III system, and so are members of Congress who have pushed for its development.
Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., a co-chairman of the congressional Electronic Warfare Working Group, compared the technology improvement to the difference between high-definition TV and an old black-and-white set with rabbit ears.
“You can see the whole battlefield,” the Congressman from Everett said.
The working group is a bipartisan task force of Congress working to boost the stature of electronic warfare, with the idea of saving the lives of service members.
Another member of the group, Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., said advanced enemy radar systems were starting to outstrip the old U.S. electronic warfare technology.
ICAP III will be able to counter new radar as well as ground-based observers equipped with cell phones and night vision goggles who might direct missile attacks.
Luttrell wouldn’t comment about the full capabilities of the new system for security reasons.
For those who are used to the old system, another advantage is that fliers quickly caught on to using ICAP III as soon as “they got over the gee-whiz factor,” Luttrell said.
“Within two months we could fully fight (with) the plane the way it was meant to be fought,” he said. Luttrell, 45, took a little longer than some of the younger fliers to catch on.
“I grew up playing Pong,” he said. “They grew up playing X-Box.”
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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