Role Electronic warfare/Attack aircraft Manufacturer Grumman Northrop Grumman First flight 25 May 1968[1] Introduction July 1971 Retired March 2019, U.S. Marine Corps Status Retired[2] Primary users United States Navy (historical) United States Marine Corps (historical) Produced 1966-1991 Number built 170 Developed from Grumman A-6 Intruder
The Prowler was in service with the U.S. Armed Forces from 1971 until 2019. It carried out numerous missions for jamming enemy radar systems, and in gathering radio intelligence on those and other enemy air defense systems. From the 1998 retirement of the United States Air Force EF-111 Raven electronic warfare aircraft, the EA-6B was the only dedicated electronic warfare plane available for missions by the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Marine Corps, and the U.S. Air Force until the fielding of the Navy's EA-18G Growler in 2009. Following its last deployment in late 2014, the EA-6B was withdrawn from U.S. Navy service in June 2015, followed by the USMC in March 2019
The EA-6A "Electric Intruder" was developed for the U.S. Marine Corps during the 1960s to replace its EF-10B Skyknights. The EA-6A was a direct conversion of the standard A-6 Intruder airframe, with two seats, equipped with electronic warfare (EW) equipment. The EA-6A was used by three Marine Corps squadrons during the Vietnam War. A total of 27 EA-6As were produced, 15 of which were newly manufactured. Most of these EA-6As were retired from service in the 1970s with the last few being used by the Navy with two electronic attack "aggressor" squadrons, with all examples finally retired in the 1990s.[4] The EA-6A was essentially an interim warplane until the more-advanced EA-6B could be designed and built.Take off Distance
Range
Aircraft Speed
Max Crew
The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a 20th century American producer of military and civilian aircraft. Founded on December 6, 1929, by Leroy Grumman and his business partners, it merged in 1994 with Northrop Corporation to form Northrop Grumman.
The F-14 Tomcat was designed as both an air superiority fighter and a long-range naval interceptor.
At the time of filming, the only recognizable star in the movie was Tom Cruise, who was known as a teen idol from 1983’s “Risky Business.”.