An $8 billion Boeing Co led programme to develop a new airborne electronic attack aircraft is on track, under budget and should fly for the first time on September 1, 2006, Navy officials said on Tuesday.
Newly appointed programme manager Navy Captain Steve Kochman told reporters the EA-18G programme was doing well, and he was confident it would survive a spate of defence budget cuts sweeping the Pentagon as the US government struggles to pay for the Iraq war. Kochman said the programme was urgently needed to replace the Navy's fleet of carrier-based EA-6B "Prowler" aircraft, planes that have been in service since the Vietnam War, and are heavily engaged in the Iraq war.
He said the new aircraft, based on Boeing's F/A-18E-F, would protect Navy pilots as they penetrated deeper into enemy territory, as well as troops on the ground, using its enhanced electronic radar- and communication-jamming weapons.
"We've proven for decades how having jammers out there protects other planes," Kochman said. "And the current equipment is getting old. It was designed for the Cold War."
He said the new aircraft recently won Pentagon approval to be named the "Growler," a composite of the "G" designation in the aircraft name, EA-18G, and the "Prowler" it will replace.
The Navy plans to buy over 90 Growlers through 2013, he said, adding the program was on track to begin flight testing next year, to be followed by a decision on moving into low-rate production in 2007 and fielding to troops in 2009.
Boeing is due to start production of the first four G-model F-18s in December, said deputy program manager Lisa Nyalko. Two test aircraft are already being built at Boeing's St. Louis plant.
Boeing and its partner, Northrop Grumman Corp, won a $979 million contract to begin development work on the airplane in late 2003, but also do work on a separate $112 million contract to develop software for the plane. Boeing and Navy officials said various parts of the program were between 2 percent to 10 percent under budget.