Awacs and electronic warfare

The US Navy wants to eliminate 5 squadrons of electronic warfare aircraft EA-18G Growler

Since the retirement of the last EF-111A Ravens from the US Air Force in 1998, the US Navy has been the only US air force with a fleet of tactical fighters dedicated to electronic warfare and suppression of enemy anti-aircraft defenses. , initially on EA-6B Prowler, then, from 2011, on EA-18G Growler, a version of the F/A 18 F Super Hornet specifically for this mission. However, the Pentagon's needs for this type of mission did not disappear with the withdrawal of the EF-111As, and the F-16C/D equipped with HARM missiles were not sufficient to ensure the escort missions of the air forces in contested areas. It's here…

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Conversion of 2 French SSBNs into cruise missile submarines, a more attractive hypothesis than it seems

March 31, 2022

For several months, the deputy of Eure and member of the Defense commission of the National Assembly Fabien Gouttefarde, wants to be force of proposal as for the future evolutions of the French defense programs. Although he belonged to the Republic on the Move, he did not hesitate, for example, to plead insistently for the Air and Space Force, but also the National Navy, to acquire a version of electronic warfare and suppression of adverse anti-aircraft defenses of the Rafale, and this despite the end of non-receipt, also very open to criticism, addressed by the Ministry of the Armed Forces to one of his colleagues in the opposition, Jean-Christophe...

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Will Germany limit itself to 35 F-35As for its Luftwaffe?

March 17, 2022March 17, 2022

Unsurprisingly, the German Chancellery has therefore announced, as part of its program to increase the strength of its armed forces, the acquisition of 35 F-35A combat aircraft from the American Lockheed-Martin to ensure the sharing mission. NATO nuclear power, of which Berlin is one of the 5 pillars with Ankara, Amsterdam, Brussels and Rome, alongside 15 electronic warfare devices and suppression of enemy anti-aircraft defenses Typhoon ECR from the European consortium Eurofighter bringing together Germany, the Spain, Italy and Great Britain, in order to replace the Tornado ECR which ensured this mission until now. Beyond signing the end of the production of the F/A…

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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will discuss the F-35 in Washington next week

February 4 2022February 4 2022

Although no official announcement has yet been made on this subject by the new management team in Berlin, it does seem, in view of the numerous converging indiscretions obtained by various press sources in the country, that Germany is heading every day more towards the acquisition of a small fleet of American F-35As to replace its obsolete Tornado to carry out NATO's nuclear sharing mission. And according to a dispatch from the Reuters agency, the subject will even be discussed no later than next week by Olaf Scholz with his American counterpart during the Chancellor's visit...

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Boeing pulls out all the stops to try to salvage German Super Hornet contract

January 13 2022January 13 2022

As we know, after the failures in Switzerland, Finland and Canada, three countries which today use the F/A-18 Hornet, the German contract covering 30 F/A 18 E/F Super Hornets and 15 aerial warfare E/A-18G Growler to replace the Tornado dedicated to the NATO nuclear mission and the Tornado ECR of electronic warfare, has taken on a more than strategic dimension for Boeing, for which the sustainability of the chain of assembly of the device for 3 years. However, this contract is now threatened by several factors, in particular the Pentagon's firmness in not qualifying the new bomb...

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Germany wants to assess the interest of the F-35 to replace its Tornado

January 8 2022January 8 2022

“Oh, What a Surprise” will say the most cynical. According to the German site Die Zeit, the new Minister of Defense Christine Lambrecht has indeed undertaken to reconsider the decision of the one who preceded her in the function, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who had in 2020 arbitrated in favor of the acquisition of 30 Boeing F/A 18 E/F Super Hornet fighter bombers and 15 EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft to replace the Tornado dedicated to NATO's shared nuclear mission, and the Tornado ECR electronic warfare and suppression respectively opponent's anti-aircraft defences. According to the article, the German Minister, in agreement with the…

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The French Ministry of the Armed Forces considers the principle of a Burst of Electronic Warfare useless

January 3 2022January 3 2022

In June 2021, the UDI deputy for Seine Saint-Denis and member of the Defense commission of the National Assembly had questioned, based on an article published on Meta-Defense, the Ministry of the Armed Forces on the relevance of developing a version of the Rafale dedicated to electronic warfare missions, like what was done, for example, with the US Navy's E/A-18G Growler from the F/A-18F Super Hornet. According to the arguments put forward, a Rafale "specialized" in this electronic warfare mission, would make it possible to increase the capacities of the French air forces to suppress enemy anti-aircraft defenses, and thus guarantee, over time, the capacities of the forces...

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F / A-18 E / F Super Hornet moves further away from Germany

December 17, 2021December 17, 2021

When in March 2020, Berlin announced its intention to acquire 45 F/A 18 E/F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler combat aircraft alongside 90 new Eurofighter Typhoons to replace, among other things, the electronic warfare Tornado and those dedicated to NATO's nuclear sharing missions, the German authorities knew that it was taking a significant risk, in particular for those who, after them, will have to implement this acquisition program. Indeed, the Boeing Super Hornet, no more than the Eurofighter Typhoon, were then planned to be able to receive the new gravitational nuclear bomb used by NATO in this specific context, the B-61-Mod12 . In order to…

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US Congress speeds up withdrawal of US Air Force's oldest planes except A-10

December 8, 2021December 8, 2021

Since the mid-2010s, each new Pentagon funding law has given rise to a showdown between the US Air Force and the US Congress, over the accelerated withdrawal of aircraft deemed unsuitable for modern operational needs, so as to free up budgetary and human resources to accommodate new equipment, and in particular the F-35A Lighting II and the future NGAD, intended to replace the F-22 by the end of the decade. And each year, an aircraft concentrates this opposition, the A-10 Thunderbolt II, the mythical low-altitude fire support aircraft, which was designed to eliminate tank columns...

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What are the Strengths and Weaknesses of the Air and Space Force?

November 25, 2021January 26 2022

On the night of April 13 to 14, 2017, 5 Rafale aircraft from the Saint-Dizier base escorted by 4 Mirage-2000-5, 2 Awacs aircraft and 6 KC-135 tanker aircraft, carried out a 10-hour raid and 7000 km to strike and destroy using the 2 SCALP cruise missiles carried by each of the Rafales, the Syrian chemical installations used by the regime of President Bashar El Assad, within the framework of a tripartite coalition bringing together the United States, the Great Britain and France. Despite the significant Syrian anti-aircraft defenses implemented, all the targets targeted by the coalition strikes in…

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