“In all ways, the F-16 Weasels were technically very inferior to the F-4G, although the F-16 as a fighter outperforms Double Ugly by orders of magnitude,” Jim Howard, former F-4G EWO.
The F-4G Wild Weasels were modified F-4E fighter jets that had their cannons substituted with AN/APR-47 electronic warfare systems. Their mission was to target enemy air defense systems, particularly surface-to-air missile (SAM) radar installations. A total of one hundred sixteen F-4Es were transformed into F-4Gs for this special role.
Equipped with AGM-88A/B/C High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARM), the F-4G operated alongside other F-4Gs or acted as a hunter aircraft to guide fighter-bombers, like the F-16, against surface-to-air missile (SAM) sites. The F-4G carried a pilot and an Electronic Warfare Officer (EWO), responsible for navigation, communication support, and the coordination of attacks on SAM sites.
As Jim Howard, former F-4G and EF-111A EWO, explains on Quora, “The F-4G Wild Weasel [that first flew in 1975 and was retired in 1996] was at least 30 years ahead of its time in capability.
“I don’t think there is a flying system today that can geolocate radars as well by itself. The modern technique uses multiple platforms to locate radars and share this information via datalinks.
“It had ‘DC to Daylight’ frequency coverage and had 52 flat plate antennas that used digital interferometry to measure the angle of arrival of radar pulses within seconds. Knowing the angle of arrival, the APR-38/47 system could compute the range, bearing, and probable type of radar within seconds.
“The APR38/47 system monitored 360 degrees around the F-4G.
“This information was displayed to the electronic warfare officer on a plan position indicator scope (PPI). This display was essentially an ‘inverse radar’, displaying radar emitters the same way a radar displays airborne targets.
“The APR38/47 system computed attack envelopes for anti-radiation missiles and displayed this information to the crew.”
Howard continues:
“When the F-4 platform became unsupportable, the Weasel mission was passed off to F-16s using a cobbled-up pod system that primarily used the AGM-88 seeker head to detect threats.
“In all ways, the F-16 Weasels were technically very inferior to the F-4G, although the F-16 as a fighter outperforms Double Ugly by orders of magnitude.
“The F-4G Weasels were spectacularly successful in Desert Storm in suppressing surface-to-air missile sites.”
He concludes;
“Although not designed for air-to-air use, one F-4G did succeed in blowing most of the tail off an airborne bomber with an AGM-88 anti-radiation missile.
“OK, it was a friendly B-52, everyone got home, the BUFF crew got medals, and the whole thing is forgotten now. By the Weasels anyway, maybe not so much by the BUFF guys.”
Photo by U.S. Air Force
