The EA-6B “Prowler” was an Electronic warfare aircraft that was used by the US Navy and the USMC until 2015 and 2019 respectively. It had four crews consisting of 3 Electronic Countermeasure Officers (ECMO) and a pilot. The EA-6B first flew in 1968, and a total of 170 were built.
The EA-6 B was built to perform Electronic countermeasure and SEAD operations, and was capable of using AGM-88 Harms to destroy radar facilities if needed. It also had the advantage of an extremely long flight time due to its ability to carry external fuel tanks and its lack of an afterburner.
Details on the EA-6B
Armarments
“ECM pods, AGM-66 HARM (stations 1, 2, 4, and 5), ALQ-167 pods, TACTS pods,
chaff pods, and drop tanks.”-NATOPS FLIGHT MANUAL NAVY MODEL EA-6B AIRCRAFT, preface 1-1-1
For more Info on stores (except AGMs) see sources. (please note that AGM-66 seems to be an error in the document that this is quoted from and in more modern documents it appears to list AGM-88’s instead, document not listed due to potential export restrictions, even though it is on the avilogs website)
Dimensions
-Overall dimensions-
Length: 59 feet, 10 inches
Width: (wingspan) 53 feet
Height: 16 feet, 8 inches
Wing surface area: 528.9 square feet
-Ground clearances-
Wingtips: 6 feet, 4 inches
Centerline pods: 18 inches
Wing pods: 3 feet
Empty weight: 34,200 lbs (pounds)
Powerplant
Two Pratt and Witney P-408 Turbofan jet engines with 9300 lbs of thrust at maximum continuous power, and 10,400 at max power
Maximum allowable EGT: 832 degrees F
Fuel
Internal: 15,195 Lbs (pounds) of JP-8
External: 5290 Lbs (pounds) of JP-8 (when using ATP-D1B drop tanks)
Unuseable: 28 gallons (internal)
Flight characteristics
Time to speed: 1.74 minutes to reach .85 Mach at altitude
Top speed: 609 mph (0.79 Mach) at sea level
Max altitude: 42,600 feet
Turn time: 29 seconds 12.5 degrees a second at .6 Mach
- Yes
- No
Sources: