EA-18 Squadrons

Abstract

The EA-18G is the primary Airborne Electronic Attack (AEA) platform supporting the Joint Force. The EA-18G is the sole AEA aircraft in the inventory. The EA-18G Growler increases the survivability and lethality of the Joint Force, enabling all-domain access of the Electromagnetic Spectrum (EMS). The centrality of EMS dominance to the CNO's Maritime Strategy further necessitates EA-18G modernization as a strategic pursuit to secure EMS superiority for the Navy's Carrier Strike and Expeditionary operations. Due to the rapid advancements of the adversary's capabilities, the EA-18G, as the DoD's sole source of tactical AEA, will be called upon in future engagements to operate at increased ranges from the threat which far exceed their current capability to effectively deliver kinetic and non-kinetic effects. The Growler Block II upgrade will implement the enabling infrastructure and architecture to facilitate incremental and innovative capability improvements required for Naval Aviation to regain and sustain an advantage in the EMS until the EA-18G replacement. Sensor modernization and sensor fusion are the most critical components of Growler Block II. The onboard sensors of the EA-18G, namely the ALQ-218, require improved sensitivity and processing to detect, ID, and locate, advanced complex threats at longer ranges. ALQ-218 Airborne Electronic Attack Systems Enhancements (ASE) is a combination hardware/software solution to provide this capability. Through processing improvements to the Electronic Attack Unit, the Reactive Electronic Attack Measures (REAM) capability greatly enhances the EA-18G's ability to autonomously process and respond to unknown signals in an extremely dense EMS environment. Capabilities of the EA-18G weapon system and ancillary equipment can be upgraded to accommodate and incorporate new or enhanced weapons as well as advances in technology to respond effectively to emerging future threats. EA-18G "Flight Plan" spiral capability development is critical to the baseline of the EA-18G next generation mission system capability and maintaining tactical relevance in support of Navy Aviation Plan 2030. Development continues for design and integration of avionics systems, integration of Jamming Techniques Optimization (JATO)improvements, evolutionary software upgrades via the System Configuration Set (SCS) block builds and related testing. Continued advanced development engineering for improvements in reliability and maintainability are required to ensure maximum benefits are achieved through reduced cost of ownership and to provide enhanced availability.

Document Details

• Document Type: R2 Budgetary Justification
• Publication Date: Oct 01, 2021
• Source ID: 0604269N_5_1319_PB_2021
• Change Summary Explanation: The FY 2021 funding request was reduced by $12.401 million to account for the availability of prior year execution balances. Technical: Not Applicable Schedule: Schedule was updated to reflect the following changes: - AEA Growler Block II Development added to schedule - H22 Software Development completion changed from 2QFY24 to 4QFY24 - H24 Software Development added to schedule - H20 IT schedule completion changed from 2QFY24 to 4QFY24 - H22 IT added to schedule - H20 OT added to schedule - H20 fleet release added to schedule
• Service Agency Name: Navy

Entities

Organizations

• United States Navy

Tags

Communities of Interest

• Autonomy
• Electronic Warfare
• Sensors
• Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

• Aircrafts
• Algorithms
• Contracts
• Cost Analysis
• Electronic Warfare
• Engineering
• Identification
• Machine Learning
• Product Development
• Signal Detection
• Signal Processing
• Software Development
• Software Testing
• Systems Engineering
• Target Recognition
• Test And Evaluation
• Warfare

Readers

• Irregular Warfare and Special Operations Cyberspace Operations against Adversarial Threats.
• Naval Mine Countermeasure Systems Development.

Technology Areas

• Microelectronics