The Tale of the Legend
In general, there is a lot to respect about this plane, it is really good, as we have already said many times, but when you read this with your own eyes, not only your hair stands on end, but also some of your internal organs.
On January 3, 2026, the US military carried out a daring and unprecedented operation in Venezuela using just one aircraft.
The operation in Venezuela in early January was made possible by the special capabilities of the EA-18G.
The US Navy's EA-18G Growler was designed to penetrate enemy defenses and be undetectable or incapacitated by enemy radar.
How do you like it? Are you hooked? But that's just a preamble; we're talking about the Legend...
What makes the EA-18G Growler so cool? Its powerful ability to detect and identify radio signals and repel enemy attacks makes it the perfect stealth fighter.
Well, that's it, really. All that's left is to shake my head at all the fuss about the F-35, and let's not forget the F-22 either. Here it is, the perfect stealth aircraft, and these aren't my words, these are from David Hambling, who lives in South London. He actually specializes in military technology, especially drones and counter-drone systems. He is the author of "Swarm Soldiers: How Tiny Drones Will Conquer the World." In general, old David is quite reasonable in his judgments, which is unusual for a Brit. It just sort of happened that way...
It's hard to disagree with him that the EA-18G Growler is a good aircraft. It's absolutely gorgeous, beyond words. And it will remain in service for as long as the airframe allows, because it's impossible to replace engines, components, and power units. EW it can take decades.
Well, at least, Soviet-designed and built aircraft still serve in this mode.
So what kind of legend did David concoct? Well, not a legend, but a fairy tale about how the legendary "Grumbler" defeated the entire Venezuelan army.
It's common knowledge that a US military task force was stationed in the Caribbean for some time. The only military operation they conducted was a strike on smuggling vessels, which turned out to be fishing vessels, costing the US millions in compensation. But that's a different matter, as they say today.
And there were persistent rumors that a strike was planned against the Maduro regime in Venezuela. Analysts expected cruise missiles to be used as a show of force. missiles, airplanes or Drones, which would strike military targets. No one expected the US to launch an airborne assault due to Venezuela's powerful air defense system, and there were some very enthusiastic cries about it here, too.
Around two o'clock in the morning, explosions rocked Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, and then, incredibly, American Chinook transport helicopters, escorted by AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, flew over the city as if they were at home. In a bizarre operation, US special forces captured the Venezuelan president and his wife and took them away.
What happened to the Venezuelan system? Defense, which was supposed to stop them?
"They never launched their missiles. They had Russian and Chinese missiles, but none of them took off," President Trump said in an interview. "We showed up, they pressed the buttons, but nothing worked."
This matches the account of one of Maduro's security officials, who reported that "suddenly all our radar systems went offline without any explanation."
We don't know exactly what this secret was. weapon USA. But everything points to the US Navy's EA-18G Growler—an aircraft that specializes in disabling enemy air defense systems using advanced electronic warfare and unique weapons.
General Dan Kane, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed that Growlers were involved in the operation on January 3.
Once again, I'll allow myself to quote the great Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov regarding "a case of so-called lying." More precisely, not so-called lying, but simply lying.
Both are lying: the unnamed security officer of President Maduro and President Trump. They're lying without hesitation, because the truth is right there. The security officer is lying because he was bought off (unlike the Cubans, who did their job to the end), and Trump is lying because he was bought off.
We've all studied physics, one way or another, and we understand perfectly well that miracles don't happen. And no electronic warfare aircraft, especially one located fifty kilometers away from the scene, is capable of disabling missiles from their control center. Yes, the "Grumbler" can jam, complicate the lives of radar operators, and disrupt missile guidance—all of this, but actually "killing" the air defense system is a far cry from the fairy tales Zelenskyy tells his people about a quick victory.
The Growler is the latest development in a line of aircraft designed for a very specific purpose. They enable attacking aircraft to penetrate defenses by interfering with enemy radars or missile radar seekers. Yes, the aircraft has come a long way in this field.
Немного stories, as always.
Before World War II, aircraft detection was accomplished through sight and hearing. A line of observers with binoculars watched for enemy aircraft and reported sightings. Sometimes they used devices such as ear trumpets to detect the sound of an approaching bomber squadron.
Fighter jets took to the air to try to spot the attackers.
The advent of radar, which both sides of the conflict developed as a secret weapon, changed the air defense system.
Radar transmits a beam of radio waves into the sky and detects the echoes reflected from aircraft. This technology allowed aircraft to be detected at ranges of several dozen kilometers and worked equally well in conditions of poor visibility, dense fog, or complete darkness.
Naturally, both sides of the Western Front (radar was a dire situation on the Eastern Front) began to look for countermeasures, and fairly quickly found ways to deceive or jam radars. The earliest of these involved dropping strips of metal foil that reflect radar beams.
The British named it "Window" and began using it extensively in 1943. During major bombing raids, some aircraft dropped clouds of foil that provided cover for the main forces. "Window" became the forerunner of modern chaff.
The first electronic warfare devices were used during the US invasion of Sicily in 1943. These were powerful radio emitters tuned to the same frequency as German radars. These emitters flooded German radar screens with noise. Radar developers responded by creating filters that could separate the noise from the signal. Thus began an arms race between jammers and filter developers that continues to this day.
Meanwhile, electronic warfare specialists developed a "spoofing" technique. They detected a radar pulse, analyzed it, and responded with a similar pulse that looked like a radar reflection. This created a false signal that filled the radar screen with electronic "ghosts." Once again, radar designers had to find ways to distinguish genuine signals from false ones.
In the 1960s and during the Vietnam War, SA-75M anti-aircraft missile systems supplied by the USSR destroyed many American aircraft. American electronic warfare systems could temporarily suppress air defenses, but their successes were truly temporary and limited. The American military, however, wanted to permanently disable Soviet anti-aircraft missile systems. To this end, specialized aircraft were created to destroy A-4 Skyhawk-based anti-aircraft missile systems. The Air Force called them "Wild Weasel," and the Navy called them "Iron Hand." They were armed with the new AGM-45 Shrike anti-radar missiles, which homed in on radio emissions to disable the radar.
Since then, such aircraft have played a crucial role in any operation to suppress modern air defenses. As one report put it, "Without the Navy's air defense suppression capabilities, these missions would not have been possible."
To perform these new electronic warfare missions, a specially equipped aircraft was needed. In 1971, the US Navy took the first steps in this direction by converting the two-seat A-6 Intruder carrier-based attack aircraft into the EA-6B Prowler.
To this end, a new four-seat cockpit was created for the pilot and three electronic warfare operators, with a fully integrated electronic warfare system. In 2009, the Prowler was replaced by a new generation—the EA-18G Growler. It was based on the same airframe as the F/A-18 Super Hornet carrier-based fighter.
It makes perfect sense; standardization is a useful thing, as is camouflage, since the only external distinguishing feature between an attack aircraft and an electronic warfare aircraft is the antennas on the wingtips. The EA-18G can carry out bombing missions or engage in dogfights using Sidewinder missiles. The only thing it lacks is the 20mm Vulcan cannon, which has been replaced with electronic warfare equipment. And the crew isn't as large as the Prowler's, with a single operator.
The EA-18G's standard armament is a pair of AGM-88 HARM high-speed anti-radar missiles. These supersonic, 350-kilogram missiles, capable of homing in on and destroying enemy radar at a range of over 100 kilometers, replace the Shrike missiles.
But the Growler's key feature lies in its ALQ-99 Tactical Jamming System (TJS) pods. The Growler can carry up to five of these pods, which, using antennas on its wingtips, automatically detect, identify, and locate the source of any radio signals. Thanks to their powerful emitters, they can generate signals to jam any detected objects.
Each capsule, driven by a turbine powered by the oncoming airflow, generates up to 10 kilowatts of jamming power. This may not seem like much, but thanks to electronic beamforming, the signal is emitted in a narrow beam directed at the target, making it orders of magnitude more powerful than a signal propagating in all directions.
An interesting point: these electronic capsules have had the same designations since they appeared on the Prowler in 1972, during the Vietnam War. Clearly, the ALQ-99 has been upgraded numerous times over the past 50 years, and its power has likely increased.
A very useful system appeared on board, INCANS (Interference CANcellation System), which ensured stable VHF communication for the Growler crew when the jamming equipment was turned on - the EA-6 crews were unable to maintain radio communication when the onboard jamming equipment was operating.
The Growler is also equipped with a Multi-mission Advanced Tactical Terminal (MATT) satellite communications system. The wingtip pylons for AIM-9 missiles have been replaced with removable pods containing AN/ALQ-218 antennas. This is an airborne passive radar detection/electronic warfare/electronic intelligence (RWR/ESM/ELINT) system designed to provide situational awareness and collect electronic intelligence data. It detects, identifies, locates, and analyzes radio frequency (RF) sources.
Another promising new product is the APG-79 radar with active phased array antenna (AESA), for which a special air defense suppression mode is being developed.
This is a purely technological confrontation between the radar and the electronic warfare specialist. The radar must generate complex pulses and correctly analyze the results, while the electronic warfare specialist must analyze these signals, hack them, and generate counter pulses that deceive and confuse the radar, or cause it to generate error messages.
There are faster aircraft, more maneuverable, stealthier, or more heavily armed aircraft, but when it comes to advanced electronic warfare, the EA-18G Growler truly has no equal. It's perhaps the only one in aviation, where the US is still on top.
And so, why not paint a few fairy tales around this decent airplane for the American reader?
In the weeks leading up to the operation, EA-18G Growlers carried out numerous reconnaissance sorties, while other aircraft and drones flew near Venezuelan airspace, testing defenses and encouraging the Venezuelans to activate their radars. They picked up every signal emanating from the Russian-supplied S-300 and Buk-M2 long- and medium-range air defense systems, which the Growlers were already programmed to recognize and neutralize.
The result exceeded all expectations: the Venezuelan radar was disabled with practically a single flick of a switch, and within minutes a barrage of AGM-88 HARM missiles rained down on the air defense positions.
Later images show several destroyed Venezuelan anti-aircraft missile systems. Apparently, none of them fired a single shot. The only damaged American aircraft was a helicopter, slightly damaged by the attack.
The result exceeded all expectations: the Venezuelan radar was disabled with practically a single flick of a switch, and within minutes a barrage of AGM-88 HARM missiles rained down on the air defense positions.
Later images show several destroyed Venezuelan anti-aircraft missile systems. Apparently, none of them fired a single shot. The only damaged American aircraft was a helicopter, slightly damaged by the attack.
Sheckley, Asimov and Heinlein, I'm sure, would have applauded if they could have read this.
It's no secret today that Venezuela's air defense systems weren't even assembled, let alone integrated into a single network. So much has been written about this and so many questions have been asked that it's amazing why, after such a short time, the US has started making up such amusing stories about the army's greatness and fleet.
It is clear that any army, in the language of our neighbors, needs some kind of victory against the backdrop of general betrayal.
After such a disastrously failed campaign to "reassure" Iran, both sides of the US administration desperately needed some kind of demonstration of success. To bolster the Army and Navy's sagging image. So they brought in their ally from Great Britain, supposedly an independent voice.
We already know perfectly well that the EA-18G is a very capable aircraft, and as an electronic warfare aircraft, it's simply unmatched, especially considering its ability to perform strike missions, something unavailable to the vast majority of electronic warfare aircraft in the world. However, this nonsense wasn't written for us.
An S-300 SAM system "smothered" by EA-18G electronic warfare... That's interesting. Yes, the Growler can get close to the Buk-M2E; its 9M317 missile has a range of up to 50 km, so there's a chance. You can jam it at that range, blind the radar, and then the AGM-88, and that's it. But the S-300, which will see the Growler at a significantly greater distance, considering that radars "see" 200-300 km, and missiles fly 150-200...
No, the AGM-88 HARM is a good thing. It flies the same 150 km and, if it hits a radar mirror, it turns it (mirror and radar) into rubble. And it can even hit an inactive radar. It's a good missile, no doubt about it. But the 48N6E2 flies further and carries a warhead twice as large. And if the Venezuelan systems had been properly deployed, not a single Growler would have gotten within firing range without some tremors.
Here, it's no longer so important why Venezuela's air defense systems weren't operational, whether the suitcases full of dollars or Latin American sloppiness were to blame. What matters is that they began to spin "victory tales" on this basis, and not even by the Americans, but by their NATO allies.
Of course, we don't care. We know the price of Latin American venality and American aircraft. And, perhaps most importantly, our air defense systems. So, you might even see this as a slight dig at us: Venezuela had Russian and Chinese air defense systems... Draw your own conclusions. We'll fly to you, you'll press the buttons, and...
And it's not just Russia and China. Algeria, Vietnam, North Korea, Morocco, Iran, and other countries armed with S-300 and HQ-9/15 missiles should all receive and accept the message from the US: they are simply powerless against the Growlers. An interesting move, isn't it?
So, will we be afraid of the great and terrible "Growler", or what?
Information