The Grumman EA-6B electronic warfare/airborne jammer prototype makes its first flight at Long Island, NY. The prototype is a highly modified A-6A Intruder fitted with five jamming pods and a bullet fairing for more electronic equipment at the tip of the vertical fin. After the Air Force’s EF-111 is retired in the 1990s, the EA-6B, later nicknamed Prowler, becomes the nation’s premier tactical airborne jammer and is flown by joint Navy/Air Force and all-Air Force crews operating from Navy aircraft carriers.
Lawmakers drafting the 2027 defense policy bill worry the Air Force is not moving fast enough to arm its tanker fleet with new protection systems capable of defeating incoming missile threats.