US marines left without EW aircraft

The US Marine Corps decommissioned the last EA-8B Prowler electronic warfare aircraft on March 6. In an online publication Nplus1 reporting the event, citing Flightglobal, it is said that the Marines now have no aircraft capable of conducting electronic warfare.

The latest EW aircraft EA-6B Prowler was part of the squadron VMAQ-2, based in Cherry Point (North Carolina). Being written off, the plane went to storage. Now, some of the functions that he performed will be performed by F-35B Lightning II fighter planes, but they will not be able to completely replace the decommissioned aircraft. This situation will continue until a new EW aircraft appears in the US Marine Corps.

EA-6B was developed in the 1960-e years. He had two engines. The crew was four people. EW EA-6V was adopted in 1971 year. He replaced the ESA-3В Skywarrior, then the aircraft was modernized several times.

Written off board was developing speed up to 1050 kilometers per hour. Its flight range was 3,8 thousands of kilometers. He was equipped with five points for containers of anti-radar missiles, aiming systems and shooting off false targets.

EA-6B entered the Marine Corps in 1977 year. In total, the marines received 48 such machines. Since the F-4G (1994 year) and EF-111 (1998 year) aircraft were removed from service, it remained the main and only EW in the US Marine Corps.

The aircraft was also used as an EW vehicle in the US Navy. There he was in the service of 44 of the year, ending it in the summer of 2015 of the year. It was at this time that the last naval EA-6B Prowler was decommissioned.