Navy Flight Crews Controlled $52 Million Prowler via Windows 95
By Marcus Boone ·
Flight crews were forced to rely on a consumer laptop and Windows 95 to control a $52 million jammer in a makeshift bridge the government called a 'less-than-optimum solution.'
The EA-6B Prowler was designed to be a ghost in the machine, a twin-engined, four-seat aircraft capable of rendering an adversary’s radar and communications useless. According to a program description mirrored by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), the Prowler's primary mission was to protect fleet units by jamming hostile signals, serving as a "unique national asset" deployed from both aircraft carriers and land bases.
To the Department of Defense, the Prowler was the only radar jammer left in the inventory after the 1995 retirement of the EF-111 Raven. It was a role that required the plane to function as a vacuum for information and a wall of noise, ensuring that U.S. strike forces could operate without being seen or heard by those on the ground.
"Umbrella of electrons"
The record notes that the Prowler was not specifically optimized to provide a "safe haven" via an "umbrella of electrons," but when used effectively, it provided a "decisive tactical advantage." This advantage was physically manifested in the AN/ALQ-99 Tactical Jamming System. The aircraft could carry up to five pods—one on the belly and two on each wing—with each pod housing two jamming transmitters covering one of seven frequency bands.
While the pods created the noise, the tail fin pod did the listening. It housed "sensitive surveillance receivers" capable of detecting hostile radar emissions at long range. This data was fed into a central mission computer, allowing the crew—a pilot and three electronic countermeasures officers (ECMOs)—to identify and jam targets either automatically or manually. The cost of this capability was steep: the record lists a unit replacement cost of $52,000,000.
Document imagery from irp.fas.org From the files: irp.fas.org
A ruggedized laptop
For all the talk of "sophisticated electronic warfare packages" and "world's premier tactical electronic warfare platforms," the Prowler’s cutting-edge nature had a clumsy underside. The document describes the Multimission Advanced Tactical Terminal (MATT) and the Improved Data Modem (IDM), systems designed to provide a "near-real-time" look at hostile platforms via national asset sensors.
In a jarring contrast to the $52 million price tag of the airframe, these systems were not integrated into the aircraft's primary displays. Instead, they were controlled using a "commercially ruggedized laptop computer in a Windows 95 environment," which the crew had to connect via a cable to the center console in the rear cockpit. The record admits this was a "less-than-optimum solution of system engineering," a makeshift bridge between the stratosphere and a consumer operating system that would only be resolved in the future ICAP III model.
Document imagery from irp.fas.org From the files: irp.fas.org
NAS Whidbey Island
Regardless of the cockpit's ergonomics, the human element was strictly standardized. Whether the crew served in a Navy VAQ squadron, a Marine Corps VMAQ squadron, or a jointly manned land-based unit, they all underwent centralized training at NAS Whidbey Island, Washington.
Their operational history was one of constant presence. The Prowler was integrated into every aircraft carrier deployment and played a significant role in suppressing enemy air defenses during Operation Desert Storm. In the Marine Corps, the aircraft was integrated with the Tactical Electronic Processing and Evaluation System (TERPES), which allowed for post-mission analysis of electronic support data to update the "orders of battle."
By the late 1990s, the government began pushing the aging airframe through the Block 89A upgrade program to address "structural and supportability problems associated with aging aircraft." This included a new Litton Embedded GPS/INS that improved navigation accuracy to about 16 meters, a necessary refinement for a plane whose job was to fly into the teeth of enemy defenses and jam them into silence.
The document concludes with the planned sunset of the platform. The EA-6B was slated for retirement in the 2010 timeframe. To fill the gap, the Navy planned to acquire the F/A-18G "Growler," while the Air Force looked toward standoff jamming via modified EB-52s or EB-1s, and the use of unmanned air vehicles like the Northrop Grumman Global Hawk or General Atomics Predator.
Other records on this subject, including reports from the National Archives and the Congressional Research Service, exist regarding the Prowler's design stress and airborne electronic attack programs, but the FAS record leaves a specific question lingering: how much of the Prowler's "unmatched" capability relied on the expertise of its four-person crew to make a Windows 95 laptop function in a combat zone?