Will the UK buy whatever 'EW pod' the USMC develop for their F-35Bs?
Beyond F-35: Rep. Forbes & Adm. Greenert on Cyber, Drones & Carriers
29 Apr 2013 Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
Beyond F-35: Rep. Forbes & Adm. Greenert on Cyber, Drones & Carriers
"...
Jamming, Cyber, and the Great Convergence...
..."It's out of Schlitz," Gen. James Amos, the Marine Corps Commandant, said of the Prowler in testimony to the House Armed Services Committee. In the near term, as Prowlers retire, the Marines are adding ground-based electronic warfare systems to help fill the gap, he said, "but I think the real replacement for us is the F-35B."
The Marines will develop an electronic warfare pod to augment their F-35s, Amos said, but even without such additional equipment -- just using the plane's standard built-in systems -- an F-35B "has about, probably, 85 percent" of the capability of the latest Prowler.
The problem with that plan is that the Marines retire their last Prowler in 2019, while the F-35B squadrons are still building up.
"As we look forward to the F-35 coming into the inventory, there are a lot of capabilities we'll be able to leverage... to offset the sundowning of the Prowlers," said Marine Lt. Gen. Richard Tryon, Amos's deputy commandant for plans, policies, and operations, at the Navy League's Sea-Air-Space Symposium earlier this month...."