Firstly, US never dropped LBJ/MBJ/HBJ path, here they are doubling down on development of LBJ
Delivering extended stand-off range, simultaneous multiple-target engagement, and greater electronic attack effectiveness.
www.l3harris.com
Here it is Growler with SEAD/DEAD configuration
View attachment 34209
What are you talking about, even IAF is doing radar fingerprinting matching since decade and half now for long range radar detection. And then to launch DPSA stike or DEW strike , and for doing DPSA LBJ/MBJ/HBJ become more important.
Nothing new, as I said before, even IAF is doing that for a decade now.
F-35 is not optimized for UHF/S/L-band radars, which majority of ground radars going to be.
Indeed, but you need dual mode seeker, combining IIR and PHH. Or you have to launch 2 missiles with different seekers for mission success.
If you start employing such tactics from Day 1 of war, you dont going to be left with sorties to launch other missions. JASSM type missiles are never meant for SEAD/DEAD ops, rather targeting command & control nodes.
I didn't say they abandoned it, I said they are
losing the relevance they had before, particularly the USAF which depends entirely on the US Navy for SEAD/DEAD, this is particularly aimed at the USAF's capabilities.
SEAD missions are assigned to the EA-18G in the USN, but DEAD are from all strike package assets, including Tomahawks and JASSMs.
Strictly speaking, the USAF does not have specific aircraft for SEAD missions. It adopts MALD (including the J, with jamming capability) and HARM decoy missiles launched by the F-16, B-52 and F-15, but does not have broad electronic attack capabilities and only uses self-protection ECM in the form of internal devices , towed and external cocoons.
Eventually, the USAF operates together with the USN's EA-18G, which provides electronic attack.
The USMC adopted the EA-6 with electronic attack capabilities but they were withdrawn. What is intended is that the USMC's F-35Cs can carry the NGJ pods that will also be adopted by the USN's EA-18Gs.
When CHAMP is operating, it would be a DEAD system since, if used against an IADS, it has the potential to cause the physical destruction of electronic systems, neutralizing them definitively and not temporarily, as in a conventional electronic attack.
Today, SEAD and DEAD operations are increasingly confusing as electronic pulses can permanently damage electronic systems and some anti-radar missiles have a terminal seeker that, even with the radar turned off, the missile hits.
And look, you said it exactly like this:
Its waste of time, when I asked about LBJ for SEAD/DEAD, he suddenly shifted the whole argument to AEW&CS and Standoff jamming and Cruise missile. Like US use Tomahawk and JASSM for SEAD/DEAD mission. Furthur, Goodluck doing standoff jamming of EL/M-2084 type radars.
Yes. The USAF uses it as the attack package. Even today's hypersonic missiles are fully aimed at high-value targets to attack in critical time and this includes all early warning radars, aerial scanning and target acquisition of an enemy IADS.
The Gulf War itself is an example of this. The effects of joint SEAD were achieved by cruise missile launches from maritime assets and multiple launch rocket systems.
There is a whole bibliography to read:
Another book to read:
Storming Camicus: Rolling Back the IADS in 2030
Between others.
Other example:
USS Carney (DDG-64) launched a Tomahawk Land Attack Missile against a Houthi radar site in Yemen at 3:45 a.m. local time Saturday, U.S. Central Command announced in a Friday night release. The strike comes the day after the U.S. and United Kingdom launched a series of strikes across 28 locations...
news.usni.org
But if you still insist, Gen. James B. Hecker allegedly stated that USAFE uses the JASSM-ER as a vector part of the strike package for a SEAD/DEAD mission.
Gen. James Hecker says countering air defenses (counter-IADS) is his top priority, along with equipping air bases to service NATO aircraft.
www.airandspaceforces.com
Hecker added that USAFE has “struggled hard to improve our capabilities and used all Allies to do so.” He didn't go into details, but the Air Force is seeking a number of new weapons for the Anti-IADS/Suppression of Enemy Air Defense (SEAD) mission. This includes the Stand-in Strike Weapon (SiAW), as well as existing weapons such as the stealthy AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Missile-Extended Range (JASSM-ER). Both weapons would target enemy radars and missile batteries.