Suhiir,
I will first start with an
apology to concerning your last post. I misinterpreted the point you were making.
But know me better than most, so you know once a topic has got my attention, I just keep on digging. Most of the information is
very current or better. Most of it also comes from the
USMC. And the rest from the
USN and
USAF. The rest is from
closely related sources.
Right now I'll simply address the
EA-18G "GROWLER". But we have to go back a couple of years first.
The
last Combat Aerial EW platform the
USMC operated was the
EA-6B "PROWLER". Even as the USMC decided to "
Sundown" the plane, it was still considered one of the best "
EW" platforms in the world.
Sundown occurred on
08 March 2019 for the last SQD. to operate the
EA-6B. I believe we discussed this at the time.
https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/new...al-deployment/
https://news.usni.org/2019/03/08/mar...owler-squadron
So that leaves the question, what did the
USMC replace it with?
Well I can tell you, the USMC
didn't replace it with the
EA-18G "GROWLER".
So if you have a
Marine version in the
OOB you can safely
DELETE it.
There is
ONLY one operator of that plane in the U.S. Armed Forces, and that service is the
USN. And the
USN is keeping that plane, as I've already posted recently,
well past 2025.
My Marine friend, will know well the who, what and where the following ref. is. Also this is to be considered under the "current or
better" as noted above.
Also before I post it, I will
quote from the last sentence...
"The
F-35C is expected to declare
IOC in
August 2018 (Actually that happened a little later,
IOC was declared on
28 Feb 2019 notice the trend here!?!).
https://news.usni.org/2019/02/28/nav...strike-fighter
Now for the rest of the sentence as follows...
FOC is expected for
both variants (
F-35B/C as I realize not everyone will read the full para.) in the
late 2020’s."
https://www.candp.marines.mil/Progra...-Lightning-II/
I know the standard I try
hard to hold myself to, and am expected by many out here to do the same, for equipment, Full Operating Capability (
FOC), Fielded, Inducted and similar descriptions, depending on what part of the world we're talking about.
And
NOT for the following, Entered Mass Production, Contract signed, Memorandum of Understanding (
MOU) signed, Operational Evaluation (
OPEVAL), Initial Operating/Operational Capability (
IOC) and my all-time favorite,
I read it somewhere.
My perspective
only, how much more
legitimate pieces of equipment that's out there could Don and I have gotten into the game over these "
how many years" if it wasn't for
ALL the equipment we've had to fix in the OOB's because of that last para above?
And again you don't have to look any further then last years submissions.
It is sad as I posted a couple of weeks back when I checked my
old FIREFOX file, cleaned it up, got down to simple equipment issues thinking I'd be pretty much just cleaning out that file and deleting it, until, I opened the
first 2 that were from
2014/2015, checked the OOB's, and can you guess what I found?
They weren't even in them. That to me was both frustrating but
even more just plain sad.
I'll be glad when
2026 arrives and I submit my last submission(s) but, until then I just want to do it right and walk away with head up and my integrity intact that's for here and when I leave my job shortly after that.
We have the
best wargames of the type out here and speaking for myself,
I want to keep it that way.
Nothing in life comes easy, I don't think we were born with a "
silver spoon" in our mouths, anywhere else, well it'd just be painful. All we can do is "
shift around" be diligent, patient and work hard. And if you're lucky, you just might find that "
silver spoon" made it to your mouth after all!?!
On second thought, I'll just pass on that last part.
I'll post the rest later today or tomorrow and I insist as I spent a lot of time with this in regards to staying/getting with military sources on this issue(s).
Regards,
Pat
