Stealth is being outpaced by software, radar and computing power so electronic warfare and cyber attacks are growing in importance. So the F-35, though it may possess excellent — if circumscribed — electronic attack and cyber capabilities, needs help from the Navy’s EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft.
That means, Boeing and the Navy are arguing, that the Navy needs more of the electronic attack versions of the F-18, known as the Growler, to fly with the F-35 on the first day of combat to protect the F-35 and to help protect the service’s precious carrier strike groups.
“The Growlers were highlighted as a priority need by the Chief (of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert) in his request to Congress. Our assessment is that the DoD needs 50 to 100 additional Growlers, so we will continue to work with Congress to add 22 Growlers to the Fiscal Year 2015 budget and later with the Navy for future Growlers to be inserted into the baseline Fiscal Year 2016 budget in the next cycle,” Mike Gibbons, the Boeing vice president in charge of the F/A-18 and EA -18G programs, said in a statement.
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