The EA-18G was accompanied by another Growler, both were flying from Guam to Misawa Air Base when a cockpit indicator showed that one was running low on fuel
Taken on May 14, 2018, the interesting video in this post features an EA-18G assigned to VAQ-138 Yellow Jackets making an emergency landing at Hyakuri Air Base.
It was accompanied by another Growler, both were flying from Guam to Misawa Air Base when a cockpit indicator showed that one was running low on fuel.
They were joined by a C-17 later in the afternoon to provide support. By mid-afternoon, all three left Hyakuri.
According to Stars and Stripes, the incident is the latest in a string of unscheduled landings by U.S. military aircraft in Japan this year.
Late last month, an MV-22 Osprey made a precautionary landing in Kagoshima prefecture after a cockpit warning light came on. That same week, there were emergency landings made by an F-35B Lightning II stealth fighter and a UH-1Y Venom.
On Jan. 23, an AH-1Z Viper helicopter made an emergency landing at a municipal helipad on Okinawa’s Tonaki Island. Similar incidents happened on the southern island prefecture on Jan. 6 and Jan. 8.
The EA-18G Growler is a variant of the combat-proven F/A-18F Super Hornet and flies the airborne electronic attack mission. Thanks to its array of sensors and weapons, the aircraft is able to perform a wide range of missions such as Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD), Stand-off and Escort Jamming (where the Growler not only fly the traditional stand-off jamming mission but also provides the escort for other air assets thanks to the speed and agility inherited form the Super Hornet), Non-Traditional Electronic Attack (where thanks to its enhanced situational awareness the EA-18G achieves an unmatched degree of integration with ground operations) and Self-protection and Time-Critical Strike Support (where thanks to its Advanced Electronically Scanned Array [AESA] radar, digital data links and air-to-air missiles, the EA-18G has self-protection capability and is also highly effective for target identification and prosecution).