Grumman A-6E Intruder
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. The requirement was issued in 1957, and Grumman’s A2F-1 design selected, with the first flight in 1960. In 1962, just before fleet entry in 1963, the Intruder was redesignated A-6A.
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. 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 system proved very complicated and it would be some years before it was perfected. Since the weather and night would be the Intruder’s primary defense, no internal armament equipped the aircraft, though it could carry an impressive 18,000 pound warload.
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. 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.
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. 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. 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. 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.
A-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. 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.
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 first the cancelled stealthy A-12A Avenger II, then the F/A-18C/D Hornet. The last A-6E left US Navy service by Feburary 1997; the US Marine Corps had retired theirs in 1993. Older, non-modified aircraft were sunk as an artificial reef off Florida; others remain at AMARC for scrapping.
(The next part is fictional...)
With the formation of the Free Intelani Republic Naval Air Arm and the decision to build three Pegasus-class carriers, the FIRNAA quickly decided to follow the US Navy’s carrier air group format as well. The FIRNAA placed an order for 30 A-6E Intruders and six KA-6Ds in 1983, with the aircraft built to the same specifications as US Navy Intruders. Because of the Third World War and the US Navy’s need for all the Intruders it could get, FIRNAA production was pushed back until 1986, when the situation stabilized.
Finally, the FIRNAA received its first A-6Es in January 1987, and NAS-21 became the first FIRNAA Intruder squadron. To make up for the shortfall in production, the US Navy turned over 12 more aircraft after the end of the war, with the final batch of twelve A-6s delivered to the FIRNAA by January 1989. These replaced the A-4ES Skyhawk in service, and brought procurement at that time to 24 new-build aircraft and 12 ex-US Navy aircraft, with the balance of the order going to the USN to replace the last of the war losses. The FIRNAA did benefit from the delay in production, because the intelani Intruders were produced with the later weapons update already in place. FIRNAA A-6Es got their baptism of fire in the First Gulf War, and would go on to serve in the Balkans.
Though the US Navy never took up Grumman on the A-6F (or the less comphrensive A-6G) upgrade, the FIRNAA intended its Intruders to be in service for some years to come, and contracted Grumman to upgrade their aircraft to A-6F standard beginning in 1995. The new aircraft had their wings replaced with the same graphite-epoxy composite wings of late A-6Es, but the most significant changes were in the engines and avionics. General Electric F404 turbofans replaced the J52 turbojets for greater range and fuel efficiency, while the AN/APQ-156 radar was replaced with a synthetic-aperture AN/APQ-173, giving the A-6F the same ability as the much newer F-15E Strike Eagle. The cockpit was made a fully “glass” cockpit, though the two extra weapons stations on the A-6F prototypes were not fitted to FIRNAA models as a weight-saving measure.
The first FIRNAA A-6F flew in July 1994, and entered the fleet almost exactly a year later, in June 1995. Fleetwide refitting was completed in January 1998. FIRNAA KA-6Ds were not modified. The improved Intruders would see their first action in Operation Desert Fox against Iraq in 1998, over Kosovo in 1999, and led the first FIR airstrikes on Taliban positions in Afghanistan in October 2001. They were also heavily used in the initial invasion of Iraq in spring 2003.
Despite the relative newness of the aircraft and the fact that they were not slated to be retired before 2015, the FIR Defense Review of 2000 predicated a switch to an all multirole naval air arm by 2010, which sounded the death knell of the Intruder. Since the F/A-18E Super Hornet was multirole and one pilot could do the work of the two-man crew of the A-6F, it was decided that it would save the FIRNAA money by retiring the Intruder, though the Super Hornet did not have the range or warload of the A-6F.
The first Intruders left the fleet with the retirement of the IWS Sagittarius in 2004 and the disestablishment of NAS-22, while Super Hornets reached the fleet in 2005. The last A-6F Intruders were launched from the deck of IWS Aquarius in June 2006. The KA-6D had left the fleet earlier, with the last being retired in March 2004.
(Back in the real world...)
A friend of mine gave me this A-6 diecast toy a few years ago, and it sat on my shelf for a long time. Recently, I decided to paint it up a little bit for my fictional navy, by adding highlights, wing walkways, and squadron markings. It turned out well, though the felt tip squadron markings smeared a little...but this does make the A-6 look worn, as most do after coming home from sea duty.
Grumman A-6E Intruder
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. The requirement was issued in 1957, and Grumman’s A2F-1 design selected, with the first flight in 1960. In 1962, just before fleet entry in 1963, the Intruder was redesignated A-6A.
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. 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 system proved very complicated and it would be some years before it was perfected. Since the weather and night would be the Intruder’s primary defense, no internal armament equipped the aircraft, though it could carry an impressive 18,000 pound warload.
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. 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.
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. 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. 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. 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.
A-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. 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.
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 first the cancelled stealthy A-12A Avenger II, then the F/A-18C/D Hornet. The last A-6E left US Navy service by Feburary 1997; the US Marine Corps had retired theirs in 1993. Older, non-modified aircraft were sunk as an artificial reef off Florida; others remain at AMARC for scrapping.
(The next part is fictional...)
With the formation of the Free Intelani Republic Naval Air Arm and the decision to build three Pegasus-class carriers, the FIRNAA quickly decided to follow the US Navy’s carrier air group format as well. The FIRNAA placed an order for 30 A-6E Intruders and six KA-6Ds in 1983, with the aircraft built to the same specifications as US Navy Intruders. Because of the Third World War and the US Navy’s need for all the Intruders it could get, FIRNAA production was pushed back until 1986, when the situation stabilized.
Finally, the FIRNAA received its first A-6Es in January 1987, and NAS-21 became the first FIRNAA Intruder squadron. To make up for the shortfall in production, the US Navy turned over 12 more aircraft after the end of the war, with the final batch of twelve A-6s delivered to the FIRNAA by January 1989. These replaced the A-4ES Skyhawk in service, and brought procurement at that time to 24 new-build aircraft and 12 ex-US Navy aircraft, with the balance of the order going to the USN to replace the last of the war losses. The FIRNAA did benefit from the delay in production, because the intelani Intruders were produced with the later weapons update already in place. FIRNAA A-6Es got their baptism of fire in the First Gulf War, and would go on to serve in the Balkans.
Though the US Navy never took up Grumman on the A-6F (or the less comphrensive A-6G) upgrade, the FIRNAA intended its Intruders to be in service for some years to come, and contracted Grumman to upgrade their aircraft to A-6F standard beginning in 1995. The new aircraft had their wings replaced with the same graphite-epoxy composite wings of late A-6Es, but the most significant changes were in the engines and avionics. General Electric F404 turbofans replaced the J52 turbojets for greater range and fuel efficiency, while the AN/APQ-156 radar was replaced with a synthetic-aperture AN/APQ-173, giving the A-6F the same ability as the much newer F-15E Strike Eagle. The cockpit was made a fully “glass” cockpit, though the two extra weapons stations on the A-6F prototypes were not fitted to FIRNAA models as a weight-saving measure.
The first FIRNAA A-6F flew in July 1994, and entered the fleet almost exactly a year later, in June 1995. Fleetwide refitting was completed in January 1998. FIRNAA KA-6Ds were not modified. The improved Intruders would see their first action in Operation Desert Fox against Iraq in 1998, over Kosovo in 1999, and led the first FIR airstrikes on Taliban positions in Afghanistan in October 2001. They were also heavily used in the initial invasion of Iraq in spring 2003.
Despite the relative newness of the aircraft and the fact that they were not slated to be retired before 2015, the FIR Defense Review of 2000 predicated a switch to an all multirole naval air arm by 2010, which sounded the death knell of the Intruder. Since the F/A-18E Super Hornet was multirole and one pilot could do the work of the two-man crew of the A-6F, it was decided that it would save the FIRNAA money by retiring the Intruder, though the Super Hornet did not have the range or warload of the A-6F.
The first Intruders left the fleet with the retirement of the IWS Sagittarius in 2004 and the disestablishment of NAS-22, while Super Hornets reached the fleet in 2005. The last A-6F Intruders were launched from the deck of IWS Aquarius in June 2006. The KA-6D had left the fleet earlier, with the last being retired in March 2004.
(Back in the real world...)
A friend of mine gave me this A-6 diecast toy a few years ago, and it sat on my shelf for a long time. Recently, I decided to paint it up a little bit for my fictional navy, by adding highlights, wing walkways, and squadron markings. It turned out well, though the felt tip squadron markings smeared a little...but this does make the A-6 look worn, as most do after coming home from sea duty.