![]() None had the external racks they used in Vietnam. ![]() (I initially had this identified as a KA-6D, but KA-6s did not carry MERs.“During Operation Desert Storm the B-52s heavily involved in CAS missions flew ten-hour missions from Diego Garcia. It carries three ferry tanks and two empty Multiple Ejector Racks (MERs) for bombs. It still wears the Vietnam-era light gray over white scheme and is an earlier E model without the later 1979 upgrade. Because the bureau number is obscured by the wing, I'm not sure which squadron it belonged to, but it is probably a VA-145 ("Swordsmen") A-6 when that squadron was aboard the USS Ranger (CV-61). ![]() This A-6E stopped in for a visit to Malmstrom AFB sometime in 1977. These too were retired in 1997 and replaced by the S-3B Viking. In addition to the attack versions of the Intruder, Grumman also built the dedicated KA-6D tanker version, which replaced the attack systems with an internal hose/reel refuelling system. The last A-6E left US Navy service by Feburary 1997 the US Marine Corps had retired theirs in 1993. Grumman further proposed an updated version designated A-6F, with new avionics and engines, but the US Navy rejected this in favor of replacing the Intruder with the F/A-18C/D Hornet. By that time, surviving A-6Es had been partially upgraded to allow them to fire all newer guided weapons in the inventory (namely the AGM-84 Harpoon, AGM-65 Maverick, and AGM-88 HARM), while most of the fleet also received composite wings. ![]() Besides making the already accurate A-6 even more deadly, it also allowed the Intruder to drop laser-guided bombs, hit moving targets with bombs, and also use passive radar to attack a target.Ī-6s would find themselves once more heavily employed during the First Gulf War, flying 4700 sorties for the loss of four aircraft its final roles would find it supporting Marines in Somalia in 1991 and UN forces in Bosnia in 1995. In 1979, the A-6E was further modified with the installation of Target Recognition Attack Multisensor (TRAM), consisting of a turret in the nose containing FLIR linked to the radar and a new bomb computer. All three variants were replaced by the A-6E beginning in 1971: this replaced DIANE with a more advanced solid-state computer and the three radars with a single AN/APQ-148 multimode radar. Specialized A-6Bs were also produced specifically for Iron Hand defense suppression missions, and A-6Cs for anti-truck operations on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Gradually improvements were made, and despite the loss of 84 Intruders over Vietnam, it proved to be extremely effective: until the bugs were ironed out of the F-111A in 1971, the A-6 remained the only American aircraft that could attack during the monsoon season. The Intruder was committed early to the Vietnam War, which showed up the flaws in the DIANE system and a more lethal one in the bomb delivery system, which had a tendency to set off the bombs prematurely, destroying the aircraft. Since the weather and night would be the Intruder’s primary defense, no defensive armament was put on the aircraft, though it could carry an impressive 18,000 pound warload of air-to-ground weaponry. The system proved very complicated and it would be some years before it was perfected. For this reason, it was built around the Digital Integrated Attack/Navigation Equipment (DIANE), which used three radar systems to constantly update the INS and provide attack data to the bombardier/navigator sitting in the right seat. The A-6 was designed to hit targets with pinpoint accuracy in adverse weather, day or night, similar to what the USAF would later require for the F-111 Aardvark. In 1962, just before fleet entry in 1963, the Intruder was redesignated A-6A. The requirement was issued in 1957, and Grumman’s A2F-1 design selected, with the first flight in 1960. The A-6 Intruder was designed to serve two roles: one, to replace the aging A-1 Skyraider and supplement the A-4 Skyhawk in the carrier-based strike role, and two, to give the US Navy a genuine all-weather strike aircraft.
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