From DefenseNews

 

The Congressional Electronic Warfare (EW) Working Group says U.S. Air Force plans to use the B-52 as a stand-off jammer — the B-52 SOJ — may be dropped to save money, a move the organization calls a major mistake.

 

“Given the clear need for a robust airborne electronic attack capability, it’s alarming to hear that the B-52 SOJ may be given the ax in the forthcoming Quadrennial Defense Review, especially without a clear alternative to substitute the capability that the B-52 SOJ would bring to the table,” the working group said in a late December briefing statement. The working group was established by Rep. Joseph Pitts, R-Pa., to study U.S. military electronic warfare issues.

 

To be fitted with wing-tip jamming pods weighing up to 2,260 kilograms, the venerable bombers are the estimated $3 billion centerpiece of the service’s plan to rebuild its ability to protect strike aircraft from surface-to-air missiles and other threats by the middle of the next decade.

 

“If the Air Force decides to cancel the B-52 SOJ, without a viable alternative ready to go, the services will be faced with too few electronic attack assets to effectively counter future adversaries,” the EW Working Group said in its statement.

 

The Association of Old Crows, an international EW organization, shares those concerns “We are very concerned about the Air Force’s pending decision to cut this program without any clear plans in place to bridge this capability gap,” a statement from the group said.

 

Other EW analysts say the cancellation calls into question what the Air Force plans to do about electronic warfare.

 

“The specific platform that replaces the B-52 SOJ is probably less important than whether the platform is in fact replaced,” said Christopher Bolkcom, aviation expert for the Congressional Research Service, the public policy research arm of the U.S. Congress. “EW advocates have questioned the Air Force’s commitment to this mission area.”

Evidently not. LINK

 

2007 Defense Budget: Changes in Aircraft Programs

 

 

(Source: Lexington Institute; issued Jan. 4, 2006) (© The Lexington Institute)

 

 

The fiscal 2007 budget request that defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld carries to Congress next month will contain a series of changes to military aircraft programs. Here are the most important changes.

 

--B-52 Jammer.

The Air Force's plan to equip aging B-52 bombers as standoff jammers for strike aircraft penetrating hostile airspace would be terminated. Air Force leaders have decided that they need a faster, more survivable jammer capable of accompanying the strike aircraft, but are deadset against buying the Navy's electronic-warfare derivative of the F/A-18 Super Hornet. The service is looking into equipping unmanned aircraft with jamming equipment, but insiders say the more likely outcome is a modification of the F-15E fighter-bomber for electronic-warfare missions.

 

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