The Navy’s next generation airborne electronic attack aircraft, designated the EA-18G, has officially received the popular name “Growler.”

The Navy sent a request to the Air Force to officially confirm the name in October, 2003. Air Force Headquarters Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, sent a memorandum confirming the name Oct. 12 of this year. The EA-18G has been informally referred to as the Growler for some time.

An aircraft or vessel’s popular name aids in communication and media references, according to joint service instructions.

The official confirmation of a common name for an aircraft follows a process governed by the Defense Department and managed by Air Force Headquarters. Following a request from the F/A-18 and EA-18G program office (PMA-265) at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., fleet officers selected possible names. In this case the EA-6B Commodore queried squadron officers who chose Growler as their first choice out of a list of over thirty candidates. The name seems to be a composite of the Growler’s electronic attack predecessor, the EA-6B popularly known as the Prowler, and the “G” designation in EA-18G.

“We are excited to have approval for the name, one selected by the fleet. The name is aggressive, and the Growler is inherently an offensive weapon, so it fits,” said Capt. Steven Kochman, EA-18G program co-lead at Patuxent River. “We are also proud of the name because it continues the legacy of the Prowler and a great tradition of Growlers in Navy history. At the same time it looks forward, saying we bring more tooth to the fight.”

The EA-18G Growler is being developed to replace the fleet's current carrier-based EA-6B. EA-18G will host the EA-6B's latest electronic attack suite of equipment including the ALQ-218(V)2 Tactical Receiver, ALQ-99 Tactical Jamming System Pods and the Multi-Mission Advanced Tactical Terminal (MATT). It will integrate additional capabilities such as Communications Countermeasures System Receiver and Interference Cancellation technology in an F/A-18F Block II aircraft.

The first two EA-18G developmental flight aircraft, the EA-1 and EA-2, are scheduled to begin testing in September and November 2006, respectively. The two Super Hornet aircraft are currently undergoing conversion to the EA-18G configuration at Boeing’s plant in St. Louis, Mo. All follow-on Growlers will be built on the existing F/A-18E/F production line. The Initial Operational Capability (IOC) of the first EA-18G squadron is scheduled for 2009.

The EA-18G is the fifth time the Growler name has been put into service for the Navy.

Two wooden sloops serving during the War of 1812 were named Growler. One served on Lake Champlain and the other on Lake Ontario. The first submarine called Growler, SS-215, was commissioned March 20, 1942 and served in the Pacific Ocean until its sinking during a battle with the Japanese Nov. 8, 1944. The Growler submarine earned eight battle stars during its service.

A fourth Growler, the submarine SSG-577, was commissioned August 30, 1958, designed to carry Regulus nuclear missiles. It was stationed at Pearl Harbor performing nuclear deterrent patrols in the Pacific. It was decommissioned May 25, 1964 in favor of larger, modernized Polaris submarines. It is on permanent display at the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space-Museum in New York City.

Sharing names between ships and aircraft is not uncommon. V-22 Osprey shares its name with the USS Osprey (MHC 51), an active-duty coastal minehunter. USS Black Hawk is another ship of the same class sharing its name with the Black Hawk helicopter.