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PILOT PROGRAMS TO
REDUCE TOTAL OWNERSHIP COSTS
(R-TOC)

EA-6B PROWLER

Description

The Weapon System

The EA-6B Prowler is a modified A-6 Intruder attack aircraft, with significantly more Electronic Warfare/Electronic Countermeasures (EW/ECM) capability than the earlier EA-6A variant. As a result of earlier decisions to phase out the EF-111 Ravens and F-4G Wild Weasel, the Prowler is now responsible for all tactical EW missions for both the US Navy and the US Air Force.

The primary mission of the EA-6B Prowler is to conduct Command-and Control Warfare in support of U. S. and coalition forces by jamming enemy radar and communications. The most notable role is the Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD), enhancing strike force effectiveness and survivability. In executing SEAD, the Prowler can employ High Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARM) to augment support jamming.

The Program Manager's approach to R-TOC is a vigorous effort aimed at identifying, prioritizing, and tracking cost reduction and readiness enhancement opportunities. The objective is to simultaneously improve readiness while also reducing O&S costs. Focus is on major sub-systems and components - engines, avionics, radar, and navigation systems and development of an Integrated Maintenance Concept which will reduce maintenance man-hour requirements and decrease aircraft down time.

In October 2000, the EA-6B was one of four R-TOC Pilot Programs designated to experiment with performance agreements with users, performance agreements with support providers, and program-specific working capital funds.

Production Status, Population, and Planned Life

There have been 170 aircraft manufactured, with the first delivered in 1971 and the last in 1991. The EF-111s were retired in 1998. In 1999 the active inventory of EA-6Bs exceeded 100, with a 16-year average age. The increasing age of the fleet is driving additional maintenance requirements for personnel and parts. The maintenance man-hours per flying hour have increased from 40 in FY84 to 62 in FY97, and aircraft fatigue issues are increasing. The system now has the highest cost per flying hour in naval aviation. The system is undergoing a major upgrade, Improved Capability III (ICAP III), which provides Link-16 connectivity and improved countermeasures and communications, but the number of planes to be modified was reduced to 37 in POM 04 to provide funds to develop a replacement aircraft.

Prime contractor: Northrop Grumman Aerospace Corporation

Office of Primary Responsibility: EA-6B Program Manager, PMA-234

R-TOC Focus Areas: (From USD (AT&L) memorandum dated May 10, 1999)

  1. Reduced demand from weapon systems via reliability and maintainability improvements
    • The program has made a major emphasis on identifying top O&S cost drivers and readiness degraders, and has been active in applying for fundign via Affordable Readiness Initiatives, Cost Reduction and Effectiveness Improvement, R-TOC PBDs, and other mechanisms. R-TOC initiatives include:
      • Demonstration/introduction of Spraycool technology for cooling COTS avionics, reducing excessive heat, eliminating the need for fan cooling and resulting in higher avionics MTBF.
      • J52-P-408B engine enhancements (funded by R-TOC PBD 721) to improve engine reliability, and increase time between major engine inspections
      • Installation of new Digital Flight Control System (funded by PBD 721) to improve avionics performance and reliability and remove one of the major O&S cost drivers
      • The AN/ASN-130A Inertial Navigation System is the number two aviation depot-level reparable (AVDLR) cost driver. The AN/ASN-172 Embedded Global Positioning System/Inertial Navigation System (EGI) will replace the obsolete AN/ASN-130A.
      • The obsolete APS -130 Radar is the number 6 AVDLR cost driver and aircraft readiness degrader and is being replaced with an available alternative.

  2. Reduced supply chain response times, leading to reduced spares, system support footprint, and depot needs

    Supply Chain Management

    • Integration of 2-level maintenance concept
    • Reduction of I-level maintenance workload
    • Utilization of contractor's warranty; no depot level maintenance costs for first five years
    • Integrated data environment
    • Reliability centered maintenance. The study was completed and approval to proceed with final implementation was received. This is expected to eliminate more than 120,000 annual maintenance man-hours.

    Expanded Prime Vendor and Virtual Prime Vendor Arrangements

    • Virtual Prime Vendor support with DLA - J-52 Engine/EA-6B/F-14; decrease cycle time, better forecasts of requirements, improve maintenance and production planning

  3. Competitive sourcing of product support, leading to streamlining and overhead reductions
    • TBD

Performance-based Pilot Activities

The EA-6B Prowler is one of four R-TOC Pilot Programs selected in October 2000 to experiment with:

  • Establishment of formal performance agreements between the program managers and their warfighter customers based on warfighter expectations and mission availability, particularly for legacy systems.
  • Use of program-specific formal agreements (or "contracts") with organic providers based on output and availability.
  • Use of a program-specific working capital fund to pool funding sources and provide a robust financial base for the program managers to fund product support providers to meet mission availability expectations.

To carry out these responsibilities, the EA-6B program is exploring an MOU between the EA-6B program office and EA-6B fleet customers, which will identify responsibilities and agree upon aircraft inventory and readiness metrics. This MOU would provide increased visibility into the root cause of readiness degraders, which will be used to focus process and system improvements and provide the detailed basis for future budget support. PMA-234 is participating in a process with the users of identifying and removing maintenance barriers, and is identifying and defining measurements for all the services the fleet customer needs.

The program office is also considering establishing MOUs with several support providers, including the Naval Aviation Depot (NADEP) Jacksonville (covering the airframe and J-52 engine); Naval Surface Warfare Weapons Center (NSWC), Crane Division (covering the ALQ-99 tactical jamming system); and the Naval Inventory Control Point and DLA (covering Naval and DLA supply support for the aircraft). DLA/DCMC NGC Bethpage has drafted and approved an MOU governing the activities of five NGC contracts and three facilities; PMA-234 approved this MOU in November 2001.

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05282003