Rob van Riel wrote:

Something odd struck me a while ago when examining F-4 weapons
loadouts. On air force planes, ECM pods seem to be very common.
However, I don't think I've ever seen a picture of one on a navy F-4,
or any other navy plane for that matter.
Am I looking at the wrong pictures, or does the navy not use ECM pods
on any scale?

Rob


I don't think that when the Vietnam war started F-4s had any ECM gear to
speak of, other than a RHAWs. The USAF later chose to equip their
aircraft with external pods, whilst the navy/USMC chose to fit
internally mounted jammers, like ALQ-100 and later ALQ-126. They had a
number of programmes to retrofit their F-4s with these systems,
resulting in various lumps and bumps appearing on the aircrafts' tail
fins and leading to the addition of rather prominent fairings on the
sides of the intakes on some F-4Js and common to the F-4N and F-4S.
External pods saw very limited use, with the obvious exception of the
systems used on dedicated EW aircraft like the EA-6B.
The USN has continued to rely on internal systems since, although there
has been occasional use of AN/ALQ-167 pods on aircraft like the F-14 and
evidently the A-6E (as becomes obvious when following the link provided
by Chad Irby in this thread). As far as I know, this system was
originally intended as a training tool, primarily in use with units like
VAQ-33. During Desert Storm and later ops. over the FRY it pretty much
seemed to be standard fit on F-14 TARPS missions. USMC practice is the
same as the USN's. They primarily rely on internal systems, with only
the AV-8B carrying a podded system on the fuselage centreline.

Standard for the F-14 was the internally fitted ALQ-100 on early
aircraft, with later aircraft relying on the ALQ-126 (in various
versions). The ALQ-126 is also fitted internally on the F/A-18 Hornet.
Late model Hornets and F-14Ds were supposed to be fitted with a more
advanced jammer called ASPJ (Advanced Self Protection Jammer) or
ALQ-165, but only a small pre production series was produced before the
US procurement was cancelled. The few dozens of sets produced ultimately
did reach the fleet and were occasionally distributed to units in harm's
way, for instance to USMC F/A-18D or USN F-14 units operating over
Bosnia. The Super Hornet also relies on an internal jamming system.

BTW, Finland, and possibly other export clients as well, have bought
ALQ-165 for their Hornets. The USAF originally was supposed to also buy
ALQ-165 for internal use in their F-16Cs (the internal volume needed for
this is the reason for the increased thickness of the base of the
vertical tail on the F-16C model), but they have continued to use pods
(ALQ-131 and ALQ-184) instead.

Regards,
Ralph Savelsberg