[Photo] U.S. Marines EA-6B Prowlers refuel during mission over Afghanistan

February 4, 2015 Troubled Areas, War on ISIS

David Cenciotti

U.S. Marine Corps EA-6Bs are taking part in missions in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Some of the 27 remaining U.S. Marine Corps EA-6B Prowler jets are currently deployed to conducts electronic air defense over Afghanistan.

The EA-6Bs belong to the VMAQ-4, that deployed to Al Udeid, in Qatar, in August 2014.

Since they arrived in Qatar, the Prowlers have launched missions to Syria and Iraq, as well as Afghanistan.

In spite of their age, the aircraft are still valuable platforms capable to support any contingencies or operations which may need kinetic electronic attack: they can spot and identify enemy signals, jam radar emissions and radio communications as well as gather intelligence and pin-point enemy forces on the ground.

Still, the Prowler will probably be the last EW (Electronic Warfare) dedicated aircraft in USMC inventory: the Marines plan to retire the Prowler and replace it with the radar-evading F-35B which will be able to perform some EW roles by means of its AESA (Active Electronic Scanner Array) radar, used as a directional jammer.

In the meanwhile, the images in this post show some the Marine Corps Prowlers being refueled by a U.S. Air Force KC-135 on their way to one of the daily missions over Afghanistan.

Image credit: U.S. Air Force

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About David Cenciotti

David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.