ase Person Profile
The EA-18G Growler fleet is based at NAS Whidbey Island. Boeing was awarded a contract to deliver 12 Growlers to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) under a foreign military sales agreement with the USN in June 2014. The aircraft achieved initial operational capability in April 2019 and are currently operated by the RAAF. Australia is the first country outside the US to operate the EA-18G Growler aircraft.grownle An EA-18G Growler, along with two F/A-18 Super Hornets, underwent flight trials at the Pirkkala Air Base near Tampere, Finland, for procurement process in February 2020. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency of the US Department of Defense (DOD) approved the sale of one EA-18G Growler Aircraft and related equipment worth $125m to the Government of Australia in September 2021. The new aircraft will replace the country’s EA-18G A46-311 aircraft lost in an accident at Nellis Air Force Base. EA-18G and F/A-18F design The EA-18G Growler aircraft is a derivative of the F/A-18F Super Hornet, based on the Super Hornet platform, with structural changes and the installation of avionics and mission systems, increasing the empty weight by 800kg to 15,000kg and carrier landing weight by 1,350kg to 21,775kg. One of the external visual characteristics is the wingtip air-to-air missiles on the F/A-18 Super Hornet are normally replaced by wideband receiver pods on the EA-18 Growler while other hardpoints carry a mix of electronic warfare pods and weapons. The aircraft construction includes a light alloy multi-spar wing as well as high-strength graphite and epoxy panels and doors. The major contractor Northrop Grumman manufactures the rear and centre fuselage sections while EADS CASA is responsible for the manufacture of structural components, such as the fuselage rear side panels, horizontal tail surfaces, flaps, leading-edge extensions, rudders and speed brakes. The aircraft has retractable tricycle-type landing gear. The Menasco main landing gear is single-wheeled and turns through 90° to retract rearward into the wheel bays mounted in the engine air ducts. The aircraft has a Messier-Dowty twin-wheel nose gear. The nose of the aircraft is fitted with a catapult launch tow bar. An arrester hook is installed under the rear section of the fuselage.