State Department approves $2B Australian Super Hornet, Growler equipment package

A Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) EA-18G Growler (Photo Credit: LAC Ryan Howell/Royal Australian Air Force)

MELBOURNE — The US State Department has approved an Australian Foreign Military Sales request to acquire equipment for its fleet of EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft and F/A-18F Super Hornet multirole fighter jets.

The announcement by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency on June 16 said Australia has been cleared to buy 60 Global Lightning – Joint Tactical Terminal – Transceivers (JTT-X) and 24 Next Generation Electronic Attack Units (NGEAU) under the package. The estimated total cost of the sale is $2 billion USD.

“The proposed sale will improve Australia’s capability to meet current and future threats by providing the necessary follow-on sustainment support services for its F/A-18F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler aircraft fleet,” the DSCA announcement says.

JTT-X is a communications terminal designed to deliver critical, time sensitive battlefield tactical intelligence and targeting information to tactical commanders and other intelligence nodes securely and in near real-time using satellite communications networks, according to the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR).

The NGEAU provides a capability that enhances the Growler’s ability to autonomously process and respond to unknown electronic signals in an extremely dense electromagnetic environment. According to the US Navy it implements reactive Electronic Attack measures using advanced machine learning algorithms to enable effects against agile, adaptive, and unknown hostile radars or radar modes.

The NGEAU is part of a series of spiral hardware and software upgrades to the EA-18G known as the Growler Block II, which will also encompass enhancements to its airborne electronic attack systems.

The package will also include advanced electronic warfare systems, ALE-47 electronic warfare countermeasures systems, joint missioning planning software and aircraft spares and repair parts.

Australia is currently the sole operator of the EA-18G Growler, which is based on the F/A-18F Super Hornet. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has 12 Growlers alongside 24 F/A-18Fs in its inventory.

The US ally has also participated in the development of the Next Generation Jammer that is being introduced on US Navy Growlers. It previously announced in 2017 that it would contribute $250 million Australian dollars ($162.5 million USD) in funding to the program.