Supporters of the EA-18G say the airborne jammer is needed in large numbers in order to protect F-22s and F-35s from next generation VHF radars.
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Aviation News
Supporters of the EA-18G say the airborne jammer is needed in large numbers in order to protect F-22s and F-35s from next generation VHF radars.
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Breaking Defense:
Navy leaders have long been skeptical of stealth, and for good reason. Stealth certainly shrinks an aircraft’s radar return, but it cannot eliminate it. And because Moore’s Law doubles available computing power every 18 months, radar systems just keep getting ever better at detecting the subtle clues of a stealth plane’s presence. From a Navy perspective, the only sure way to keep a radar from seeing you is to jam it — and then, ideally, to blow it up.
To preserve that jamming capability, the Navy is investing in a “Next Generation Jammer,” and it is now more than two-thirds through its transition from the venerable EA-6B Prowler to the newer, sleeker much more capable Growler.
Admiral Greenert: “All the stealth in the world ain’t gonna penetrate everything,” he told the audience at the 50th annual conference of the Association of Old Crows, a group named after a slang term for electronic warfare operators.
The CNO suggests that stealth is not a silver bullet. But it was never intended to be one in perpetuity. He argues that it may ultimately be more effective to invest in long-range munitions and electronic warfare that could blind enemy sensors, for instance, instead of simply hiding from them.