Boeing and the U.S. Navy presented the first EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) during a July 29 event at the manufacturer’s facility in St. Louis. Australia, the first country other than the U.S. to obtain the F/A-18 Super Hornet derivative, has ordered 12 Growlers under a foreign military sale (FMS).

The U.S. Navy uses the carrier-based Growler for the airborne electronic attack (AEA) mission, which includes both “reactive” and “pre-emptive” jamming of enemy air defenses and stand-off jamming as an escort for other fighter aircraft. Australia will use the Growler in concert with the fifth-generation F-35A, which it expects to begin receiving in late 2018 to replace the RAAF’s F/A-18A/B Hornets. Manufacturer Lockheed Martin has thus far delivered two F-35s to the RAAF; they are currently flying at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. 

“The Growlers will complement our existing and future air combat capability, and we will be much more lethal with this AEA protection,” said Air Marshal and former RAAF chief Geoff Brown. “In many respects, it’s the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle for the RAAF.”

Australia originally planned to convert half of its 24 existing F/A-18F Super Hornets to the Growler configuration. In 2013, however, the government decided to retain the Super Hornets and buy 12 new-build EA-18Gs. Navy. Boeing said it was awarded an FMS contract for new Growlers in June 2014.

Boeing test pilots conducted the first flight of the Australian Growler on July 13 in St. Louis. It will next fly to the U.S. Naval Air Station at China Lake, Calif., for flight testing, and then to Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Wash. There, RAAF pilots will train with U.S. Navy pilots in electronic warfare techniques. The RAAF expects to take delivery of the Growler in Australia in 2017.