ST. LOUIS, 10 Aug. 2013. U.S. Navy pilots demonstrated Boeing (NYSE:BA) EA-18G Growler aircraft with sensor system upgrades and its newest data network, enhanced technologies designed to enable aircrews to locate threats more quickly and accurately.
Ultimately, the secure, high-speed network will allow aircrews to share targeting data in real time. The technology will be incorporated into deployed Growler electronic attack aircraft in 2018, sooner than all Navy aircraft other than the E-2D Hawkeye surveillance airplane.
"These enhancements provide a significantly faster, more accurate, and adaptable targeting solution for the Navy and allied forces," explains Capt. Frank Morley, U.S. Navy F/A-18 and EA-18G program manager. "The result is a more capable EA-18G that is better able to control the EA spectrum."
Integrating the technology onto the Growler involved a series of upgrades that provide "an affordable, low-risk approach to adding capability that allows us to deliver advanced technologies to the fleet more quickly," describes Mike Gibbons, Boeing F/A-18 and EA-18 Programs vice president.
The upgrades are planned to be retrofitted into existing Growlers and included as a standard offering for future new aircraft sales. Boeing and the Navy will work with supplier partners Northrop Grumman, Harris Corp., L-3 Communications, and Rockwell Collins to add system upgrades to the fleet.
The demonstration was held July 15 through 19 during the Navy's fleet experimentation campaign at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md.
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