F-Toys have truly excelled with this superb series of US Navy jet aircraft. The model on sale here is an A-6E Intruder as flown by the US Marines during 1976. Although minor assembly is required, the photograph shows the model essentially as it 'comes from the box'.
The A-6 Intruder is an American twin jet-engine, mid-wing attack aircraft built by Grumman Aerospace. In service between 1963 and 1997, the Intruder was designed as an all-weather replacement for the piston-engined A-1 Skyraider medium attack aircraft. A specialized electronic warfare derivative, the EA-6B Prowler, remains in service as of 2008. As the A-6 was slated for retirement, its precision strike mission was taken over by the now retired F-14 Tomcat equipped with LANTIRN pod.
The A-6E model on sale here was the definitive attack version of the Intruder. Introduced in 1970, with its first deployment on the 9 December 1971, it had vastly upgraded nav/attack systems. The original search and track radars of the A-6A were replaced by a single AN/APQ-148 Norden multi-mode radar, and the onboard computers with a more sophisticated (and generally more reliable) IC based system, as opposed to the A-6A's DIANE discrete transistor based technology. A new AN/ASN-92 inertial navigation system was added, along with the CAINS (Carrier Aircraft Intertial Navigation System), for greater navigation accuracy.
Beginning in 1979, all A-6Es were fitted with the AN/AAS-33 DRS (Detecting and Ranging Set), part of the TRAM (Target Recognition and Attack, Multi-Sensor) system, a small, gyroscopically stabilized turret, mounted under the nose of the aircraft, containing FLIR boresighted with a laser spot-tracker/designator and IBM System/4 Pi computer. TRAM was matched with a new AN/APQ-156 Norden radar. The BN could use both TRAM imagery and radar data for extremely accurate attacks, or use the TRAM sensors alone to attack without using the Intruder's radar (which might warn the target). TRAM also allowed the Intruder to autonomously designate and drop laser-guided bombs. In addition, the Intruder used AMTI (Airborne Moving Target Indicator) which allowed the aircraft to track a moving target (such as a tank or truck) and drop ordnance on him even though the target was moving. Also, the computer system allowed the use of Offset Aim Point (OAP), giving the crew the ability to drop on a target unseen on radar by noting coordinates of a known target nearby and entering the offset range and bearing to the unseen target.
In the early 1990s some surviving A-6Es were upgraded under SWIP (Systems/Weapons Improvement Program) to enable them to use the latest precision-guided munitions, including AGM-65 Maverick, AGM-84 Harpoon, AGM-84E SLAM, AGM-62 Walleye and the AGM-88 HARM anti-radiation missile. After a series of wing-fatigue problems, about 85% of the fleet was fitted with new graphite/epoxy/titanium/aluminum composite wings.
A-6E models totaled 445 aircraft, about 240 of which were converted from earlier A-6A/B/C models.
A much more highly specialized derivative of the Intruder was the EA-6B Prowler, a 'stretched' airframe with two additional systems operators, and more comprehensive systems for the electronic warfare and SEAD roles. In total, 170 were produced. The Prowler remains in service as of 2008, replacing the Air Force EF-111 Raven when the DOD decided to let the Navy handle all electronic warfare missions. It is to be replaced by the EA-18G Growler Super Hornet variant.
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