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AN/ALQ-184 ECM Pod


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The AN/ALQ-184 Jamming pod is carried by any of the aircraft that used to carry the AN/ALQ-119 Pod.

The 184 is a Raytheon upgraded Westinghouse 119. Raytheon upgraded some of the circuit boards (the PCB's) and the Antenna(s)

The 184 came out around 1982 or 83, if I recall.

The only aircraft I have seen carry either one were F-4's, F-16's, and A-10's.

There MIGHT have been some on F-111's and F-15's But I have never seen one hung on them.

We used to ferry the 119's on station 3 of the F-16, then quick turn them to station 5. I have seen them carried on Station 7, because it was the Isolated station and couldn't be spuriously dropped.

I think the F-4(g)? WW carried them on one of the inboard stations, and the A-10's carried them on Station 3 or 4.

The Pods were/are VERY effective and worked really well with the RTWR, or RHAW, or TEWS. Whichever version you had of the AN/ALR-69

When you use an ECM Pod plus the Chaff/Flare system (AN/ALE-47? I think) and the RHAW systems together, I believe they called it "Compass Tie" or some such crap. It's been like 30 years, so the old memory ain't what it used to be.

I'll bet there's a whole website about it though.

As far as Time frame, I was hanging/fixing AN/ALQ-119 pods in the early 80's and they were first used in Vietnam on the Wild Weasels, the 184 came out, like I said in 82 or 83, and are still being used today. I know they used them in OIF and other current operations.

Is that too much? Sorry. I'm old, I tend to ramble.

Jester

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As far as Time frame, I was hanging/fixing AN/ALQ-119 pods in the early 80's and they were first used in Vietnam on the Wild Weasels, the 184 came out, like I said in 82 or 83, and are still being used today. I know they used them in OIF and other current operations.

Is that too much? Sorry. I'm old, I tend to ramble.

Jester

OT but was the ALQ-119 used in Vietnam? Thought it came around later....

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From what I remember from the guys I worked with, and the Pod shop guys, and from what I have read,

the AN/ALQ119 Jamming Pod was used in Vietnam. Hung on F4 Wild Weasels.

I'm sure it had gone through several updates since then,

but I'm about 99% on the Vietnam usage.

I always Have at least 1% doubt for deniability :)/>

Jester

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To the original question, the AN/ALQ-184 is basically a contemporary to the AN/ALQ-131, which was introduced about 1984.In US service, these pods are only used by USAF jets, not by the USN or USMC. Initially the -131s were favored in Europe, while the -184s were seen more on US and PACAF jets. Whether there was more to that decision than logistic convenience, I don't know.

There were short/long -184s and deep/shallow -131s, depending on which bands the pods had to cover. F-111E/Fs only used shallow -131s, and I've seen pictures of F-4EJs carrying them as well. F-4Gs, A-10s and F-16s all seemed to favor the deep variants. I have pictures of short -184s on A-10s and F-16s and long ones on F-16s and F-4Gs. F-15s rely on an internal system and don't typically fly with pods, although you may see some aggressor jets with pods (but not -131s or -184s).

Now, as to the -119 pods, they were NOT used in Vietnam. Pods used then were the ALQ-71, -87 and -101s and their QRC predecessors. After Vietnam, the later 'double bubble' ALQ-101 pods were introduced, with the (V)10s seen on the British Jaguars and Buccaneers as late as Desert Storm. I think the Israelis were using late -101s (or possibly early -119s) during the 1973 Yom Kipper War when they discovered that their pods were completely ineffective against the SA-6. Shortly thereafter is when the 'box' and short lower gondola showed up at the front of the -119 pods containing the equipment to counter the SA-6.

This is just a thumbnail sketch off the top of my head as I'm not home at the moment, so there may be a couple of minor errors in the above. There are a LOT of omissions as there were lots of similar pods and sub-variants I've left out. But from a modeling standpoint, this should serve as a pretty good guide.

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There were short/long -184s and deep/shallow -131s, depending on which bands the pods had to cover. F-111E/Fs only used shallow -131s, and I've seen pictures of F-4EJs carrying them as well. F-4Gs, A-10s and F-16s all seemed to favor the deep variants. I have pictures of short -184s on A-10s and F-16s and long ones on F-16s and F-4Gs. F-15s rely on an internal system and don't typically fly with pods, although you may see some aggressor jets with pods (but not -131s or -184s).

I agree.

Do you know if the -184 had been used by A-10 during the 1991 Gulf War? thanks.

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I agree.

Do you know if the -184 had been used by A-10 during the 1991 Gulf War? thanks.

AFAIK these were only used by Desert Storm F-4G's, the A-10 units having to make do with the AN/ALQ-119 and -131.

HTH,

Andre

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The AN/ALQ-184 Jamming pod is carried by any of the aircraft that used to carry the AN/ALQ-119 Pod.

The 184 is a Raytheon upgraded Westinghouse 119. Raytheon upgraded some of the circuit boards (the PCB's) and the Antenna(s)

The 184 came out around 1982 or 83, if I recall.

The only aircraft I have seen carry either one were F-4's, F-16's, and A-10's.

There MIGHT have been some on F-111's and F-15's But I have never seen one hung on them.

We used to ferry the 119's on station 3 of the F-16, then quick turn them to station 5. I have seen them carried on Station 7, because it was the Isolated station and couldn't be spuriously dropped.

I think the F-4(g)? WW carried them on one of the inboard stations, and the A-10's carried them on Station 3 or 4.

The Pods were/are VERY effective and worked really well with the RTWR, or RHAW, or TEWS. Whichever version you had of the AN/ALR-69

When you use an ECM Pod plus the Chaff/Flare system (AN/ALE-47? I think) and the RHAW systems together, I believe they called it "Compass Tie" or some such crap. It's been like 30 years, so the old memory ain't what it used to be.

I'll bet there's a whole website about it though.

As far as Time frame, I was hanging/fixing AN/ALQ-119 pods in the early 80's and they were first used in Vietnam on the Wild Weasels, the 184 came out, like I said in 82 or 83, and are still being used today. I know they used them in OIF and other current operations.

Is that too much? Sorry. I'm old, I tend to ramble.

Jester

Join the club, Jester! And it just gets worserer...

And the 111's, the later birds, if I'm not mistaken carried the '131 shallow. It had to clear on rotation. And I believe the F-4G's carried the '184 in the left, forward Sparrow well, more often than not. Hope this helps.

DET1460

Edited by DET1460
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This is some great info going around. However here is one correction to be made, A-7's did indeed carry the pods.

A-7_03.jpg

Indeed a great shot, but that is a long AN/ALQ-119(V) or possibly the externally indistinguishable QRC 80-01 update. In my research, I've found that the only use of the AN/ALQ-184(V) during Desert Storm was by the 35th TFW F-4Gs out of George AFB in the front left Sparrow well (Spangdahlem AB F-4Gs used the AN/ALQ-131). By OEF/OIF, the -184s were standard on the A-10 & F-16; never used by F-15s.

Here's a short one on a Hawg [note how much longer the lower gondola is than the one on the AN/ALQ-119(V)]:

990529-LX12%20ALQ-184%20on%20A-10_zpsnkud8arn.jpg

And a long one on a Weasel from an angle so you can see its mounting hardware:

ALQ-184%20040819-55_zpsnzwq0vjp.jpg

BTW, the Lawn Darts use the long pods carried on the centerline. I have some pics of those, but they are copyrighted by others.

Edited by mrvark
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is it a -184?

Yes it is a ALQ-184. For easy identification just look for the bottom fairing: If it is long as on the F-4G you posted or the pics from mrvark, it is a ALQ-184. If it is short as on the A-7 pic it´s a ALQ-119.

HTH,

Joerg

PS: One addition: I have seen some pics of short 184s on F-16s somewhere.

Edited by Joerg
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Here are a couple of F-16s from different squadrons with different ECM pods:

http://www.dstorm.eu/pictures/nose-arts/f-16/usa/84-1262_1.jpg

Clearly a Desert Storm shot--the jet in the front is from Shaw AFB with an AN/ALQ-119 (or QRC pod), while the one in back is from Hahn AB with a shallow AN/ALQ-131(V). This reflects the standard ECM fits for TAC and USAFE at that time.

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  • 2 years later...
On 10/3/2015 at 10:47 AM, mrvark said:

F-15s rely on an internal system and don't typically fly with pods, although you may see some aggressor jets with pods (but not -131s or -184s).

 

 

Jim,

  One caveat to that.  Every now and then we used to go down to Seymour-Johnson and borrow a 131 pod (or two) and throw it on our tubs to provide some "Red Air" EA training on TI rides.  Not sure if other bases did that though.

 

Regards,

Murph

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