Originally Posted by
KenV
USN does NOT accept that the F-35 is "not stealthy enough in all aspects to penetrate enemy defenses." That is a false characterization. All versions of the F-35 are sufficiently stealthy in all aspects without an EW escort. In addition, the F-35 has an excellent self-jamming capability. USN has Growlers because the majority of its fighters for the foreseeable future will NOT be all aspect stealthy and will require an escort jammer.
Ken, the F-35 RCS reduction is optimised for one band only and the aircraft does not have a credible jamming capability either.
Quite simply no jamming system is installed, so the only jamming effect it can deliver is via the radar (within the limited frequencies it can cover).
If you don't want the bad guys to use their long-range search radars to pinpoint your F-35 package an off-board jamming capability, such as that provided by the Growlers, is rather handy.