- The EA-18G Growler got its first air-to-air kill during the US Navy's counter-Houthi mission.
- The electronic warfare aircraft was deployed for months aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.
- It would have used an AIM-120 air-to-air missile to intercept the unspecified threat.
A US Navy electronic warfare aircraft scored its first-ever air-to-air kill battling the Houthis, the sea service revealed.
The EA-18G Growler pilot that took the kill shot spent months aboard the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower as part of Electronic Attack Squadron 130, or VAQ-130. The carrier just returned to its homeport in Washington state after a lengthy combat deployment to the Middle East.
In the volatile region, the squadron worked alongside other elements of the carrier air wing, providing the Navy with crucial airborne capabilities as it tirelessly defended commercial shipping lanes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden from relentless Houthi attacks.
The squadron conducted multiple strikes targeting the Iran-backed rebels in Yemen and carried out hundreds of combat missions to degrade their capabilities, the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group said in a statement on Sunday. VAQ-130 also became "the first Growler squadron in Navy history to score an air-to-air kill," it said.
The Growler is a modified variant of the F/A-18F Super Hornet that includes sophisticated electronic warfare capabilities. It is armed with tactical jamming pods and AGM-88 HARM air-to-surface missiles that are designed to home in on electronic transmissions that come from radar systems.
The aircraft is also equipped with AIM-120 air-to-air missiles, a beyond-visual-range weapon that would have been used to score the kill acknowledged by the Navy.
The Navy didn't specify what Houthi threat the Growler eliminated; however, a video shared by the Eisenhower's commanding officer appeared to show a drone kill marking on the side of a Growler sitting on the Ike's flight deck, as the defense outlet The War Zone pointed out. Other aircraft have been spotted with similar silhouettes painted on them during the deployment.
Beyond the Growlers and Super Hornets, the Eisenhower's carrier air wing also consisted of an E-2 Hawkeye early-warning aircraft and helicopters.
As of May, the Eisenhower's carrier air wing had been involved in the release of over 350 air-to-surface weapons and over 50 air-to-air missiles, according to Navy officials, and by the time the strike group left the region in late-June, the air wing had logged more than 30,000 hours of flight time across thousands of sorties.
The Navy said VAQ-130 aviators saw "malicious, indiscriminate use" of Houthi anti-ship ballistic and cruise missiles and one-way attack drones and supported the launch of over 120 Standard Missiles and dozens of Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles.
The squadron's commanding officer on Sunday praised his aviators for their combat work after facing what the Navy described as a "historic" deployment of "nine months of operations in a persistent weapons engagement zone."
"I can't remember the last time the Navy had a more challenging deployment with a combination of multiple extensions, severely limited opportunities for R&R, and true combat," said Cmdr. Carl Ellsworth. "Not just for aviators, but the crew of the whole strike group as well, in the most kinetic action at sea since World War II."