VAQ-139 Homecoming

摘要

On June 3 Electronic Attack Squadron 139 (VAQ-139) 'Cougars' brought its EA-18G Growlers and personnel home to NAS Whidbey Island, Washington, after almost ten months of deployment to the Pacific Ocean and Persian Gulf. The unit's EA-18GS provided electronic warfare support to the USS Carl Vinson's Carrier Air Wing 17 (CVW-17) strike operations in Iraq and Syria against Islamic State (IS). During the deployment CVW-17 flew 12,300 sorties during the ten-month deployment, including 2,382 combat missions and dropped more than a half million pounds of ordnance. Of those, VAQ-139 carried out 1,200 sorties and 267 combat missions. AIR International asked Cdr Lewis Callaway, VAQ-139's commanding officer, about the unit's contribution to the fight against IS: "We denied their command and control networks, we kept them at arm's reach. We protected our coalition brethren, kept them from getting shot down, and enabled a lot of targeting with the weapon systems we have on the Growler."