![\"ea6b1\"](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/ea6b-stern.jpg\")
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End of an era, again. <\/p>\n
Marine Corps’ Last Prowler Aircraft Return from Final Combat Deployment<\/strong><\/p>\n The last of the Marine Corps’ remaining EA-6B Prowlers have wrapped up their final mission in the Middle East, where they supported troops taking on the Islamic State group. Now, the electronic-warfare aircraft will soon be headed to the boneyard.<\/p>\n More than 250 members of Marine Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 2 are returning to North Carolina after spending seven months operating out of Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. The squadron — the last to fly the service’s decades-old electronic-warfare aircraft — is only about four months away from being deactivated.<\/p>\n But that didn’t slow the Death Jesters downrange, where they were tapped with supporting two campaigns simultaneously: Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria, and Operation Freedom’s Sentinel in Afghanistan.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n “The mission of the Prowler is and always has been to deny, degrade and disrupt the enemy’s use of the electromagnetic spectrum,” said Capt. Robert Ryland, an electronic-countermeasures officer with VMAQ-2. Being based in Qatar, he added, allowed them to respond to missions for both operations.<\/p>\n Ryland declined to specify how many flight hours the crews flew throughout the deployment, due to operational security concerns. But the operational tempo remained high throughout the deployment, he said.<\/p>\n “The presence of electronic warfare is extremely important to the supported unit,” he said. “Though this is the final EA-6B deployment, the need for electronic warfare will remain high worldwide in the The aircraft of my misspent youth are going to the boneyard at Davis-Monthan AFB. The H-2s and P-3s I crewed in, and all the others of the era too numerous to list, are already there. Now it’s the last hurrah for the Marine’s EA-6B as well. I wouldn’t worry too much, the EA-18 “Growler” will fill the void left by the bird affectionately known as “The Queer” (see below) by all who served with her. <\/p>\n The article is a pretty good read, a mix of pride and bittersweet. I know that feeling well. It can be found here at Military Daily<\/a><\/p>\n So named because of the gold film layered into the canopies to protect the crew from the fierce RF radiation emitted by the ECM suite. They also had fangs with the AGM-88 HARM anti-radiation missile to take out offending emitters. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"crew\"](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/prowlercrew1800-e1541632001641.jpg\")
Marines deployed with Marine Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 2 walk to their EA-6B Prowler at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar on Sept. 12. VMAQ-2 has completed its final deployment, and the last six Prowlers in the U.S. military’s inventory are being retired. (US Air Force photo\/Ted Nichols)<\/p>\n
\nfuture.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n