Released from the PEO-T Public Affairs Office:

The EA-6B Improved Capability (ICAP) III Airborne Electronic Attack (AEA) weapon system has been approved to begin its final and most rigorous testing. Having successfully completed the U.S. Navy’s Developmental Technical Evaluation (TECHEVAL), ICAP III officially begun Operational Evaluation (OPEVAL) on Friday, April 2, 2004. OPEVAL is considered the final hurdle before a full-production approval.

During OPEVAL the Navy will take the two EA-6B ICAP III Prowler test aircraft and operate them under normal deployment conditions. Though instrumented and closely monitored, the aircraft will be maintained and flown just as are all the aircraft on a carrier. The performance of the ICAP III system, the reliability and maintainability of its components and other system development and demonstration-defined criteria will be measured. Once the system passes OPEVAL the Defense Department will move to approve ICAP III for full rate production. ICAP III has been in low-rate initial production since mid-2003. The Navy will receive the first ICAP III EA-6B aircraft in early 2005.

Operational Test Squadron VX-9, out of China Lake, California will perform the OPEVAL . The complete operational test will take approximately 5 months to conduct.

TECHEVAL, conducted at and Naval Air Systems Command’s Patuxent River, MD and China Lake, Calif., ended in February with a full system High Speed Antiradiation Missile (HARM) firing on an actual threat radar in a simulated combat scenario against real threat emitters. The missile scored a “bull’s-eye” on the target. A formal NAVAIR Operational Test Readiness Review was conducted on 18 March, which authorized the Program to transition to the operational test phase.

TECHEVAL demonstrated ICAP III’s advanced selective-reactive jamming and geolocation capabilities. Selective-reactive jamming – a new concept in electronic attack – was made possible by the advanced ICAP III receiver system and sophisticated algorithms developed by the ICAP III team. Selective-reactive jamming allows the system to focus its jamming power more effectively on specific radar frequencies and to counter modern, frequency-hopping radars designed to defeat older jamming systems.

The unique geolocation capability, which benefits from the network-centric technology of ICAP III and its time-distance interferometry algorithms, enables the system to locate emitters with targetable precision and pass that information to others in the battle management network. The new tactical displays and other crew-vehicle interfaces were also positively evaluated during the testing and contributed to the system’s “thumbs up.”

The ICAP III system is managed in the PMA-234 Program Office, part of the Program Executive Office for Tactical Aircraft located at NAVAIR Patuxent River, MD. For more information on the program contact Denise Deon Wilson, PEO-T Public Affairs Officer at 301-481-6263.

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