"A-6 Intruder" Topic

"The Intruder's lack of eye appeal has resulted in a low-key image in the minds of many uninformed aviation enthusiasts. But throughout its 32 years of service, it has earned and maintained a reputation as the workhorse of Naval Aviation from the countless Battle Group Commanders who were responsible for projecting United States power abroad. Time is one of the key yardsticks used to determine the relative success or failure of almost anything man develops. And time has clearly signaled the success of the A6 design. It leaves the fleet as it entered, the sign and how adaptable that design is to accepting improvements and technology. The A6 has proven exceptional in both areas. The design has been adapted several times to include the A6B, a Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) suppression aircraft, the A6C TRIM, the first aircraft equipped with electro-optical sensors (precursor of the A6E Target Recognition Attack Multi-sensor or TRAM), and of course the KA6D) tanker aircraft. The mission capabilities have also been continuously updated to include state of the art avionics and sensors. The Intruder started with a Digital Integrated Attack and Navigation Equipment (DIANE) system using drum computers and separate track and navigation radars. The system now employs an integrated search/track radar, Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) and Laser sensors used for target identification and self contained Laser Guided Bomb delivery. The System Weapons Improvement Program modified the aircraft to include a 1553 digital data transfer bus. This upgrade enables the Intruder to employ multiple advanced precision guided missiles for attacking ground and sea based targets and also anti-radiation missiles for conducting SAM suppression missions. Many Intruders have been further modified to incorporate Night Vision Goggle cockpits, enabling aircrews to employ an additional sensor, Night Vision goggles, in prosecuting night multiplane attacks."
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Thirty-two years is a pretty good run for any aircraft type, especially one designed for carrier service.

I love the A-6. I met an EA-6B driver – at the time he held the record for carrier landings. Hopefully, it still stands. In fact both he and his plane are on the box cover of the 1/72 Hasegawa EA-6B, IIRC.

And a better bomber than the Hornet? Range/tonnage?

"The Intruder's lack of eye appeal"

Really I always found it very cool and sexy for a plane.

@grossman the A-6 was dubbed the mini BUFF, BUFF being the B-52's name. A-6 could carry approximatly 18,000 lbs, range 5222km. F-18 is rated at about 13,700 lbs, range 2000km. My favourite version of the A-6 would have to be the EA-6A Wild Weasel/ Electric Intruder aircraft used by the USMC.

It took the development of the Super Hornet to equal the Intruder's bombload, and the super bug can only haul that load half the distance!

Nice weapons loads chart.

airvectors.net/ava6_09.png
airvectors.net/ava6.html

Yeah shame how the power projection of the USN Carriers is not what it used to be with the retiring of the F-14 and A-6.

Yea, I always thought it was pretty neat looking.

Not quite Vigilante impressive, but still, quite nice looking, nonetheless, and with a very nice bomb carrying capacity.

Always reminded me of an insect LOL. Robert

If the aircraft carrier is the USNs stick. Then the A-6 was the thick end you wack someone with. I would have loved to fly one.

What the USN gains by retiring the F-14 and A6 is a fleet made up of a common airframe. With the F/A-18G "Growler" you no longer have your strike package slowed down by the electronic warfare aircraft.

Wyatt

Except the F18C/D doesn't have the legs, has to sacrifice the two highest-capacity pylons for fuel tanks.

This may be less of an issue when the airbase can fly closer to the coastline, and the USN is talking about making the UCLASS drones the equivalent of the old EKA-3B Skywarrior. EW, tanker, and maybe even recon or AWACs.

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Nice videos . Robert
youtu.be/u8TIvaz49DU
youtu.be/bn8WNF0rVLA

Airpower Classics: A-6 Intruder – Air Force Magazine
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Intruder Tales
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I agree with the sentiment that the loss of F-14/A-6 combo was a big hit to naval power projection.

Especially with long range missions to landlocked area ala Afghanistan and development of long range Chinese and Russian anti-shipping missiles.

F/A-18 is the ultimate jack of all trades and master of none.

Description of the Initial Combat Use of the A-6 PAVEKNIFE Airborne Laser Designator
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Legends of Vietnam: Shoulder to Shoulder
The Grumman A-6 was ugly, but it sure could cook.

"On a May afternoon in 1972 a flight of four Grumman A-6 Intruders, the lead elements in an air wing strike, flew a hundred feet above North Vietnamese rice paddies west of the Gulf of Tonkin, about 25 miles south of Hanoi. Loaded with Mk 20 Rockeye bomblet canisters, the jets were headed toward Bai Thuong, an enemy airfield. Navy pilot and air group commander Roger Sheets flew the lead Intruder. He and his bombardier/navigator Charlie Carr, a Marine Corps captain, used the aircraft's radar and visual cues to guide them to Bai Thuong. "The A-6 was the all-weather attack aircraft," says Carr. "Monsoon season never affected our operations." But that day was clear; Sheets and Carr were getting a good look at North Vietnam, and any other aircraft sharing that patch of sky could get a good look at them.

As the Intruders approached their target, they climbed to 200 feet. From the right seat, Carr spotted enemy MiGs above. They looked like little arrowheads circling watchfully about 1,500 feet up. He threw a switch and informed Sheets that the A-6's three-plus tons of ordnance were now armed.

"We came in underneath this wheel of MiGs," Carr recalls, "maybe 12, 15 of them. We were hoping to catch them on the ground and bomb the hell out of 'em. The airbase was alerted, however."

Sheets kept the A-6 straight and level as they approached the airfield. A few seconds later he thumbed the release on the stick, freed all 12 Mk 20s, and banked the Intruder hard to the left.

Carr remembers seeing one of the MiGs dive toward them. "OK, so now we had a problem," says Carr. "Now the MiG-17 was on our tail."
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