EA6B Prowler

The EA-6B Prowler has been the mainstay electronics warfare aircraft of the U. S. Navy from 1971 through 2015. It was developed from the A-6 Intruder.

The U.S. Navy used the EA-6B Prowler as its tactical jamming airborne platform. It was launched from aircraft carriers to perform missions against multi-wave airborne radars and transmissions.

*The HARM missiles carried by the EA-6B Prowler are designed to home in on electronic transmissions coming from surface-to-air radar systems and destroy them prior to launching of their missiles.

The EA-6B Prowler was adopted for use by the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, and U.S. Marines in 1994.  It was used for all electronic countermeasure missions by the U.S. Air Force.

Newer generations of the aircraft, which had received major upgrades since their first deployment, were capable of electronic surveillance.

The EA-6B Prowler has seen action over Afghanistan, Bosnia, Grenada, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Vietnam and Yugoslavia.

U.S. Navy EA-6B Prowler aircraft first saw action in July of 1971 while being used to provide electric countermeasures enabling bombing missions of U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force aircraft of Vietnam.  During the War, U.S. Navy EA-6B Prowler aircraft flew over 700 combat sorties.

In the 1983 U.S. invasion of Grenada, EA-6B Prowler aircraft flying from the aircraft carrier USS Independence (CV-62) provided electronic surveillance in support of U.S. troop infiltration and defeat of enemy defenses.

In January and February of 1991, some 40 EA-6B Prowler aircraft from the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps flew some 1,650 sorties during Operation Desert Storm. During that time they fired over 150 air to surface missiles, taking out Iraqi surface to air missile batteries, jamming radar and communication systems while not losing a single aircraft.

From June 2014 through January of 2015, five U.S. Marine Corps EA-6B Prowler aircraft flew missions against Islamic State militants. These operations, taking place over Iraq and Syria, were in support of coalition airstrikes and Iraqi Army forces through the use of electronic warfare. Some 110 sorties were flown over a total of 800 hours.

It has been reported that EA-6B Prowler aircraft have been used for years over Iraq and Afghanistan to jam the signals which are used to detonate IED’s (Improvised Explosive Devices).

EA-6B Prowler aircraft were retired from active duty in early 2015 by the U.S. Navy and in March of 2019 by the U.S. Marine Corps. A total of 170 of the aircraft were produced.