Seattle Post-Intelligencer
June 8, 1999
Pg. 6

Whidbey's Jets `Blind' The Enemy Below

Prowlers fly jamming missions in Kosovo

By Ed Offley, P-I Military Reporter

WHIDBEY ISLAND NAVAL AIR STATION -- The Serbian anti-aircraft missile engine ignited with a fiery plume and raced skyward toward the EA-6B Prowler patrolling the skies above Kosovo.

Four sets of eyes in the Whidbey Island-based electronic warfare aircraft quickly spotted the Soviet-built SA-6 missile as it rose toward them several miles above the Earth. It was the same kind of missile that four years ago blasted Air Force pilot Capt. Scott O'Grady out of the air over Bosnia.

Sitting in his office above the Whidbey flight line, Capt. John Cryer yesterday provided a rare, detailed description of how Whidbey air crews are experiencing the largest military air war since ``Operation Desert Storm'' in 1991. Cryer, commander of the Pacific Fleet Electronic Attack Wing, is responsible for nine Navy and four joint Navy-Air Force squadrons that fly the EA-6B to provide electronic warfare defense.

``The missions are quite exciting,'' Cryer said. ``When you are in a combat jamming orbit you are really on the step and keyed up.'' Cryer, a veteran navigator and electronic countermeasures officer, has flown eight combat missions himself from Aviano.

For the past 11 weeks, about 1,600 Whidbey Island personnel have been at war, including dozens of the elite pilots and electronic warfare officers who man the Prowler's sophisticated jamming systems and can shoot the HARM (High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile).

The 77-day air war over Kosovo has been a major logistical and administrative challenge for Cryer and his staff, who control 13 active-duty Prowler squadrons (the Marine Corps has another five units based on the East Coast). With the recent retirement of the EF-111 Raven, the Prowler is the U.S. military's only electronic warfare aircraft and is essential to protect both American and allied planes in the Kosovo air campaign.

There are currently 26 of the $90 million electronic warfare jets flying combat missions over the Balkans, including 22 Prowlers at Aviano and five onboard the aircraft carrier, Cryer said. ``The Prowler has been determined to be the critical linchpin for every one of the strike packages going in,'' Cryer said yesterday. ``We're certainly flying in harm's way, but the EA-6B has been very able to avoid the dangers, he said.

Another Whidbey-based Prowler squadron is serving in Saudi Arabia for patrols over southern Iraq.

After the peace talks between Serbia and NATO officials stalled over the weekend, Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon yesterday predicted ``an intensification of the (air) campaign today, tomorrow and in the future,'' which could see a tripling of the number of daily attacks until Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic accedes to the alliance's demand his forces pull out of Kosovo.

Cryer said he could not provide specific identities of air crew personnel or specific squadrons for security reasons, but was willing to describe a typical combat mission.

Each flight begins several hours before takeoff at the NATO air base at Aviano, where the air crew receives operational and weather briefings before climbing into its Prowler. Most of the 1,500 Whidbey personnel at Aviano are aircraft technicians who keep the aircraft and their jamming systems airworthy, Cryer explained.

The flight from Italy to Yugoslavia takes several hours with the Prowler first meeting up with an orbiting Air Force refueling tanker to ``top off'' with fuel for the mission to escort strike aircraft toward several target areas inside Serbia or Kosovo, Cryer said. The Whidbey aircraft are using the High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile -- which homes in on enemy radar transmitters to destroy them, he said.

Early in the conflict Serbian military leaders rarely used their radar air defenses, having seen the effectiveness of Prowler crews during a brief but intense air campaign in Bosnia that led to the Dayton peace treaty. However, in recent weeks Serbian batteries have attempted to lock onto strike aircraft, Cryer said.

As the Serbian SA-6 missile streaked toward them, the Whidbey Island air crew breathed a sigh of relief: The missile was flying a straight line into the sky, showing that the Prowler's powerful radar jamming pods had blinded the enemy anti-aircraft missile team. The missile soared above them and kept going.

The Prowler crew kept going, too, flying over several pre-selected locations to provide an ``umbrella'' of electronic jamming to protect U.S. and allied strike aircraft as they attacked Serbian ground targets.