First fielded in 1971, the Northrop Grumman EA-6B Prowler was derived from Grumman's A-6 Intruder attack aircraft and served as a long-range, all-weather electronic warfare aircraft flown by U.S. Navy and Marine Corps squadrons. Replacing the EA-6A Electronic Intruder and EKA-3B Skywarrior, it supported ground troops, strike aircraft, and ships by suppressing enemy air defenses, disrupting enemy radars and weapons, and collecting tactical electronic intelligence through advanced electronic countermeasures systems carried in under-wing pods and a distinctive tail enclosure known as the football. Managed by the Naval Air Systems Command, the EA-6B fleet received numerous upgrades that kept it state of the art, and the Navy completed its transition to the EA-18G Growler in 2015 while the Marine Corps planned to fly the Prowler until 2019. The displayed aircraft, Bureau Number 159909, was built in 1978 as the third production aircraft in the Improved Capability configuration, later flew with several active duty squadrons, saw combat in the 1986 bombing of Libya and the Bosnian campaign of 1995, became a test aircraft in 2004, spent most of that later flight time at NAS Patuxent River testing ICAP-III and other upgrades, and was retired in October 2017.

Photo: Devry Becker Jones

Drum Point, Maryland · USA