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Reading request

nittany03

Recovering NFO. Herder of Programmers.
pilot
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
I've just selected Prowlers, and was wondering if anyone had any reading on the history of the EW arena. I've ordered a copy of Iron Hand from Amazon but would be interested to know if there were any other good books dealing with the history of the VAQ community, etc. Prowlers were my first choice, but it was only recently I really decided that that was what I wanted to do, so my library is kind of bare in that particular subject . . .
 

Brett327

Well-Known Member
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
I've just selected Prowlers, and was wondering if anyone had any reading on the history of the EW arena. I've ordered a copy of Iron Hand from Amazon but would be interested to know if there were any other good books dealing with the history of the VAQ community, etc. Prowlers were my first choice, but it was only recently I really decided that that was what I wanted to do, so my library is kind of bare in that particular subject . . .

Nice work and welcome to a great community. I'll poll some of the bubbas to see if they have any reading suggestions. Don't waste your time or money on some of the "technical" books you can get on Amazon like the EW 101/102 manuals. They're for engineers and way, way over the head of anything we do on a tactical level. In the meantime, if you have access to SIPR (unlikely) or the Top Gun manuals, those would be a great place to start boning up from a professional standpoint. Believe it or not, we use TG extensively and it's a good starting point for strike warfare in general. Some of the IPs may know where you can find a copy. As always, I'm standing by to field your questions about airframe, community, and Whidbey.

Brett
 
Brett, NAVAIR / NAWC-WD put out the "EW and Radar Systems Engineering Handbook"...would that be of use to him? I know it doesn't detail much of the history of EW, like he wanted, but may stil be a decent intro...I'm not on the tactical side of the house.

Definitely steer clear of Skolnik, unless you enjoy brain hemorrhages. I'm an engineer, and my head still hurts from that stuff.
 

Brett327

Well-Known Member
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Brett, NAVAIR / NAWC-WD put out the "EW and Radar Systems Engineering Handbook"...would that be of use to him? I know it doesn't detail much of the history of EW, like he wanted, but may stil be a decent intro...I'm not on the tactical side of the house.

Definitely steer clear of Skolnik, unless you enjoy brain hemorrhages. I'm an engineer, and my head still hurts from that stuff.

We had copies of those in the squadron but they're all filled with math and engineering stuff. :eek: Interesting if you're designing the next generation radar system, but completely useless for Prowler Aircrews. There is a team of 50 pound heads at APL/JHU that handle all the high level stuff like that. The "I believe" button will be used liberally, especially for Cat I guys. You'll get all the necessary technical stuff at AVEWS - more than is required, IMO. I can't get into the specifics of how jammers work, but every signal (Radar, data, or voice) has certain characteristics and parameters which can be exploited to bring it down.

Brett
 

nittany03

Recovering NFO. Herder of Programmers.
pilot
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Fly, thanks man, you'll be seeing a couple of my classmates in Lemoore soon.

Brett - No SIPR access yet; I haven't even been interviewed for my TS clearance. I don't think there is even a SIPR machine in Meridian. I take it TG stuff is all confidential or higher? I have a Secret clearance, but I'm not sure I'd be able to convince people I had a need to know till I report to the RAG. I'd love to get a running start professionally, though with any unclass stuff there is.

Edit: Just curious, what is APL/JHU?
 

Fly Navy

...Great Job!
pilot
Super Moderator
Contributor
Fly, thanks man, you'll be seeing a couple of my classmates in Lemoore soon.

Brett - No SIPR access yet; I haven't even been interviewed for my TS clearance. I don't think there is even a SIPR machine in Meridian. I take it TG stuff is all confidential or higher? I have a Secret clearance, but I'm not sure I'd be able to convince people I had a need to know till I report to the RAG. I'd love to get a running start professionally, though with any unclass stuff there is.

Who is headed this way? (PM if you want)

Yeah, Top Gun manual is Secret No Forn. I've been becoming intimately familiar with it myself...
 

Pags

N/A
pilot
congrats brotha. do you get the wings on friday? how'd the other guys that i know in your class do?
 

FatKid

Registered User
Speaking from experience of what not to do.

Your only job as a Prowler Pilot is to land at the boat. Focus on that and everything will fall into place.

You can be the most tactically astute PECMO but no one cares.
 

Brett327

Well-Known Member
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Speaking from experience of what not to do.

Your only job as a Prowler Pilot is to land at the boat. Focus on that and everything will fall into place.

You can be the most tactically astute PECMO but no one cares.

I couldn't disagree more (and, sorry to say, lends some insight into your current situation, fatkid). As a matter of fact, that attitude really pisses me off - do not listen to this man. The really breakout pilots were the ones that were good sticks AND got into the tactics. I don't think you can ever really be a "great" Prowler pilot unless you do. This is another version of the "Don't worry about your ground job, all you have to do is fly" argument. Some of the "PECMOs" that sat next to me at the weapons school are now flying Rhinos as part of the G model FIT team. If that's not incentive enough to be more than a bus driver, I don't know what is.

Brett
 

FatKid

Registered User
Speaking to someone that wants to get an early start at the rag, tactics really aren't the focus for a FRP pilot. The emphasis may be different for the other three guys in the jet but the guy driving is only evaluated by CQ performance.

Same goes for a rookie pilot in the fleet. After a while you can pick up the tactics and secretly read the PTI book under your blanket. However, for a FRP time would be better spent in CV natops vs TG.

We can take it off line if you would like to debate.
 

Brett327

Well-Known Member
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Speaking to someone that wants to get an early start at the rag, tactics really aren't the focus for a FRP pilot. The emphasis may be different for the other three guys in the jet but the guy driving is only evaluated by CQ performance.

Same goes for a rookie pilot in the fleet. After a while you can pick up the tactics and secretly read the PTI book under your blanket. However, for a FRP time would be better spent in CV natops vs TG.

We can take it off line if you would like to debate.

Yeah, I guess if you can't hack it behind the boat, then not much else matters. In this case, however, he was asking for background/pleasure reading on the topic and not for stuff that will help him in the RAG. In the absence of that, I think my advice stands, and yours remains horrible.

Brett
 
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