Grrrrrr!!!

This is coolbert:

If you have Boeing stock, news is good for shareholders. Boeing sales are up for the year, with results beyond expectations? The mix of civilian and MILITARY sales provides in both fat and lean times.

The latest Boeing military aircraft just released for operational use by the U.S. Navy is the EA-18. The “Growler”




Replacing the “Prowler [EA-6]”. Get it? “Prowler” replaced by the “Growler”!



The “Prowler” was a DEDICATED electronic warfare aircraft that first saw service in 1971. Now to be supplanted by a more robust, agile, and versatile aircraft, the “Growler”!

The “Growler” will evidently have a two-fold mission:

* Conventional electronic warfare [EW].

* SEAD [Suppression Enemy Air Defense].

The functions of the “Prowler” [EW] and the “Wild Weasel” [SEAD] all rolled into one.

This is sound!! Take an existing proven winner, the F-18 Hornet, modify the fuselage, add an additional crewmember [Electronic Warfare Officer] along with the most-up-to-date EW “suite” AND a capability to employ ARM and HARM missiles, and you have an EVEN MORE PROVEN WINNER!!

[the entire panoply of EW equipment taken as a system is referred to as a “suite”!]

The Russians too have taken a proven winner [the MiG-25], modified it, and came up a NEW, improved, much more robust and versatile aircraft. This is the MiG-31 [“Foxhound”]. An aircraft that has a slightly different mission than the “Growler”. The MiG-31 is a DEDICATED air defense [AD] aircraft with an autonomous capability. As with the “Growler”, a modified fuselage, an additional crewmember [again, the Electronic Officer], new engines, a brand-new air defense “suite”!



The MiG-31 also has improved engines and will sport the latest Russian air-to-air missiles!!?? And can play the SEAD role too!! A MiG-31 in the AD or SEAD role can employ the:

* AA-9 Amos.

* AA-X-13 Arrow.

* AA-6 Acrid.

* AA-8 Aphid.

* AA-11 Archer.

* AA-12 Adder.

* AS-17 Krypton [ARM].

* AS-11 Kilter [ARM].

Very impressive, isn't it!! Dig this stuff too. Four MiG-31's are all that is needed to provide air defense coverage for the entire British Isles!!??

coolbert