By Nicolette Cormier, PMA265 Program Support

NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND, Patuxent River, MD -- There’s a new show on the road this summer. There are no musicians or stage props, nor is there a guitar or set of drums to be seen. Why? Because this is the Boeing Company’s road show, so what you see inside their visiting tractor-trailer is a simulator of the EA-18 cockpit.

The EA-18 is a derivative of the two-seat, twin-engine F/A-18F Super Hornet that is a possible alternative to replace the aging EA-6B Prowler. Boeing is using the road show as a hands on way of proving that the EA-18 is a viable solution.

The road show arrived at Patuxent River for set up on August 11 and departed August 13. During that time there were many visitors. Some were eager just to talk about the new airplane, while others like Rich Gilpin, PMA265 EA-18 program manager, were anxious to sit in the cockpit.

Gilpin said he was pleasantly surprised on how much work had been done on the crew station. “I think the simulator is tremendous. Boeing has done a lot of work developing the crew station. The development was to the point that we invited some of the engineering teams from crew systems to evaluate the station. We wanted to get an idea of how hard it would be to go from a four-man crew (as in the EA-6B) to a two-man crew. This was a great opportunity. For a marketing tool to be good enough be used as a preliminary engineering evaluation is incredible. There is more work to be done, but if the Navy goes the EA-18 route, I think this will be a credible solution.”

Paul Summers, Boeing director F/A-18 derivative programs, is a man with a mission. Summers is hoping the EA-18 will be the Navy replacement for the aging EA-6B. He believes that the best marketing tool for this program is to let people sit in the cockpit and see what the plane is capable of doing. “This road show,” he said, “ is the best way to do it.”

Summers explained, “This is an important offering for the Navy because the aircraft would be about 95 percent common with the F/A-18E/F fleet the Navy is already buying. We are able to leverage off the existing production line. The EA-18 will be wired differently but will maintain most of the capabilities of the “F” model as well as being able to do the overall attack mission.

The airplane has been designed to act as a supplemental asset on the carrier. It has dual capabilities and can be used for electronic attack as well as for other missions. Other than the electronic attack equipment, logistics for the F/A-18F and the EA-18 are the same, allowing for ease of maintenance. Another program benefit is the Navy is already developing ICAP III electronics to be used on the EA-18 for the EA-6B.

Summers went on to say, “The Navy has invested in the E/F, they’ve invested in the ICAP III electronics, and so what we are doing here is leveraging both investments to put together a weapons system that meets their needs. It’s a pretty good situation – the timing is just perfect.”

Boeing and Northrop Grumman have been working on the EA-18 since November 1993. Summers said the road show was put together to familiarize the entire customer community within DoD with the airplane’s capabilities. Patuxent River is one of many DoD facilities the road show will visit this summer.
The combined team of Boeing and Northrop Grumman is working on the proposal for the EA-18. Northrop currently builds the Navy EA-6B and is Boeing’s principal sub contractor for the EA-18 electronic attack equipment.

Gilpin summed up the current status of the program; “We’ve just been cleared to go on contract with Northrop Grumman for a pre-system development and demonstration effort that has been aimed at transporting ICAP III and other EA-6B technology onto another platform. The decision will ultimately be made as the 2004 budget goes forward to OSD and Congress.”

For more infomation on the EA-18 or the F/A-18 program, contact Denise Deon Wilson at 301-481-6263.

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Photo cutline: Rich Gilpin, PMA265 EA-18 program manager, sits in the cockpit of the
Boeing EA-18 Simulator during its recent visit to Patuxent River.