How the US Navy’s EA-6B Prowler Plane Defined Electronic Warfare

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Though the final Prowlers were retired in 2019, their mission set carries on in the equally capable—and appropriately named—EA-18G Growler. 

The EA-6B Prowler was the US military’s premier electronic warfare aircraft for nearly four decades. Designed not to drop bombs but to blind, jam, and suppress enemy defenses, the Prowler was used from Vietnam to the Cold War to Iraq and Afghanistan. Though retired, the function of the Prowler lives on today in its successor aircraft, the EA-18G Growler.

Why America Needed the EA-6B Prowler

The Prowler was derived from the A-6 Intruder, a carrier-based attack aircraft. The base A-6 was not intended for electronic warfare, but as a dedicated ground attack platform. As the need for a dedicated electronic warfare aircraft emerged in the early 1960s, the A-6’s airframe was adapted into the EA-6A, the Prowler’s immediate predecessor. The EA-6A functioned adequately, but its limitations led the US Navy and Marine Corps to seek a redesign—culminating in the EA-6B the following decade.

Entering service in 1971 with both the US Navy and........

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