U.S. Navy on Track to Sell Replacement EA-18G Growler Aircraft to Australia

An EA-18G Growler, assigned to the “Gauntlets” of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 136, recovers on the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), Sept. 29, 2021. *U.S. NAVY / Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Isaiah Williams*

WASHINGTON — The U.S. State Department has approved a possible Foreign Military Sale to Australia of one EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft to replace one lost in a mishap.

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a Sept. 30 notification the transaction — which would include the aircraft plus “engineering and modification; verification and validation flight test efforts; maintenance and storage; U.S. government and contractor engineering/technical assistance; related studies and analysis support; and other related elements of programmatic, technical and logistics support” — would cost approximately $125 million.

The EA-18G would be from Lot 38 or later and would be modified to the configuration of the other 11 Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) EA-18Gs.

“This aircraft would replace Australia’s EA-18G A46-311 aircraft lost in an accident at Nellis Air Force Base [Nevada],” the DSCA said, noting the aircraft would come from the U.S. Navy’s existing inventory of EA-18Gs.

Boeing originally delivered 160 EA-18Gs to the U.S. Navy and 12 to the RAAF.