MILITARY ELECTONIC ATTACK SQUADRON 129
router network (SIPRNET) used throughout
the US Department of Defense: “I don’t need
to know that [information on SIPRNET] and
the US Navy doesn’t need me to see that.
Anything I need to know on VAQ-129 is
downloaded on to the laptop issued to me.
Before I return to the UK, I’ll be debriefed by
wing security on what I can and can’t take
back and what I can and can’t say back in
the UK.”Changes, burdens and the F-35
Discussing the evolving changes to the EA-18G
Growler led primarily by each new release of
HOL software, VAQ-129’s skipper Captain
Estes said: “H12 is the next release coming to
the fleet and it has some pretty revolutionary
display configurations that for a while will cause
us to have some H10 students and some H12
students based on which fleet squadrons they
are going to. One helpful aspect of the Growler
community is we have just 15 squadrons. If you
think about the time to go from H10 to H12, we
could effectively do that in a one-year span; that
is a 129 course, so as a result I don’t think I’ll
ever actually produce an H10 student once H12
hits the street.
“The real impact will be felt in the sim building.
How long will it take for them to reconfigure the
simulators? We estimate it will take about two
hours to squirt the H12 into each jet, so about
80 man hours for the squadron’s assigned
aircraft; so effectively, we are targeting to shut
down for an extended weekend work through
and get all the jets squirted.“Whatever portion of the syllabus an H10
student was to at that point, they’ll immediately
move to H12 and take the H12 transition. We will
have to train the instructors first and allow them
to become proficient with H12 and then start to
instruct H12 on the course.”
The Growler has been in front line service with
the US Navy since the third quarter of 2009.
Since then all 14 electronic attack squadrons
assigned to Electronic Attack Wing Pacific
have transitioned to the type and countless
deployments aboard US Navy super carriers
and those to forward operating bases around
the world. When asked how the aircraft is
bearing up, Captain Estes said the jets are
holding up quite well: “The biggest burden is
having five jets per squadron, which just isn’t
enough. When a carrier squadron with only five
jets is running an air tasking order over Iraq or
Syria, the utilisation rates of those aircraft sky
rockets. Double cycling them through a Syrian
or Iraqi sortie is just murder for flight-hour build-
up. It stands to reason that if there were more
jets per squadron the flight hours would be
spread across more jets and the utilisation rates
would not be as large.
“We didn’t apportion enough jets per
squadron right off the bat. The Navy has already
made strides to improve the situation and the
number of aircraft now in the programme of
record has increased so eventually we can get
to maybe seven, someday maybe eight per
carrier squadron.
“Nobody envisioned the utilisation rates we’re
putting on the fleet. The demand for Growleracross the world right now is pretty high, which
was one of the driving factors that led to the
export to Australia, a known ally that’s been with
the United States tooth and nail for near every
conflict we have got into. We recognise [that the]
more likeminded people that want Growlers, the
better off we are going to be.”
As we highlighted in AIR International, August
2017, VAQ-129 is a squadron with a high
operational tempo, including an average of 17
to 18 detachments in a 12-month period. Capt
Estes said the squadron does as much flying on
detachment as it does at Whidbey: “Most air-
to-air detachments are two to three weeks long
at Key West or Fallon, and the AEA [Airborne
Electronic Attack] detachments are usually two
weeks long. The nice aspect of a detachment
is that many of the paperwork distractions go
away and you can just focus on the flying.
“Even though we take just seven or eight
jets, the sortie generation rate goes through
the roof because everyone flies twice a day,
every day including Saturdays which we don’t
do at Whidbey. We have taken just six jets and
conducted hot seat crew switching three times
generating 18 sorties in roughly four hours.
That’s pretty darn good.”
The driver behind that is twofold: the
availability of support assets, whether
professional aggressors at Key West or
Fallon or the threat arrays on the ranges
near Ellsworth and Mountain Home; and the
ability to fly multiple sorties without a need
for long-term maintenance on the jets on the
detachment. Capt Estes said: “As we approachViking 507 launches from the USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) during carrier qualifications off the coast of Southern California. Midshipman Noah Rodman/US Navy