Boeing and the U.S. Navy have received U.S. Department of Defense approval to offer the EA-18G Growler to Finland. Previously only Australia had been authorised to purchase the airborne electronic attack aircraft.
Boeing and the US Navy have offered the Growler and F/A-18 Super Hornet in a response to query issued by the Finnish Ministry of Defense as part of their HX fighter program procurement.
“All strike fighter aircraft rely on Growler escort to increase survivability during high-threat missions,” said Dan Gillian, Boeing vice president, F/A-18 and EA-18G programs.
“The combination of the Super Hornet Block III and Growler would provide Finland with superior technological capability particularly suited to Finland’s HX mission requirements.”
An F/A-18 variant, the Growler is the world’s most advanced AEA platform and the only one in production today. It’s capable of disrupting, deceiving or denying a broad range of military electronic systems including radar and communication systems.
The Growler’s electronic warfare capability is primarily provided by Northrop Grumman. The EA-18G began production in 2007 and entered operational service with the US Navy in late 2009. Australia has also purchased twelve EA-18Gs, which entered service with the Royal Australian Air Force in 2017
Always thought we should have invested in some of these.
The US has been pairing them up with their F35@s, great combination!
https://www.businessinsider.com/f-35-needs-electromagnetic-cover-from-growlers-2014-4?r=US&IR=T
FA18G Growlers are critical part of RAAF’s growing EA capabilities.
http://thedrive.com/the-war-zone/12197/australia-set-to-become-one-of-the-worlds-top-aerial-electronic-warfare-powers
RGR
Spot on, they are Ram Air Turbines.
RGR – the pods need a lot of power for jamming so why not use self generated power and save the aircraft. It’s very simple and clever
RGR- the pods need a lot of power for jamming, it’s like having a high powered radar on each wing – so why not use self generated power and save the aircraft? Simple but clever.
RGR – the pods need a lot of power to transmit jamming – why not use self generated and save the aircraft power? It’s very clever.
I did not think they were making any more of those pods (new replacements are still in development. So is USN releasing some of theirs?
Little Finland is building quite an advanced air force. You can bet the GRU will be all over them for intell on this aircraft
Nice to see the DoD releasing some of this highly advanced tech to some of our allies to take some pressure off the USN Growler fleet. Would love to see the Brits get a squadron of these gems also.
F35 has its own capabilities
https://www.forbes.com/sites/lorenthompson/2018/01/09/electronic-warfare-the-part-of-the-f-35-fighter-story-you-havent-heard/#17f93f5168cc
Whilst a broadband jammer is good the fact that you are sending a Stealth aircraft on a mission with an unstealthy aircraft kind of defeats the object of stealth!
Dont forget Home on jam for AAM and SAM is also a widely available option,
It still takes energy to rotate the turbine blades and there is only one source of energy on the aircraft – the engines. The energy isn’t free it comes at the cost of increased drag. The reason its done this way is avoid having to modify the airframe to add extra electrical generation capacity and wiring.