Summary and Key Points You Need to Know: The Grumman A-6 Intruder, introduced in 1963, was the first all-weather attack aircraft used by the US Navy and Marine Corps. Designed to perform long-range interdiction and close air support, the A-6’s subsonic speed was compensated by its ability to carry nine tons of weaponry across five hardpoints.

-With a side-by-side seating arrangement for the pilot and navigator, and advanced navigational technology like the Vertical Display Indicator, the A-6 was invaluable in combat, particularly during the Vietnam War.

-Though not flashy, the A-6 Intruder left a lasting legacy in military aviation before its retirement in 1997.

The A-6 Intruder: The All-Weather Jet That Defied Expectations

I have always been fixated on military aviation, which is naturally one of the reasons I joined the US Air Force on a pilot contract (from which I was medically discharged). I know exactly which plane sparked my interest in military aviation, too. It wasn’t what you’d expect; not the supersonic SR-71 Blackbird, the romantic P-51 Mustang, or the stealthy F-117. It was a bulbous, slow, docile-looking jet: the all-weather A-6 Intruder.

I was still just a kid when the A-6 was retired from service in 1997, so I never got to see the thing in action. And in the quarter-century since its retirement, the jet has begun to fade into obscurity – which makes sense given the jet’s unassuming nature.

But the A-6 was a highly capable attack aircraft that served for 36 years in both the US Navy and the US Marine Corps.

What would become the A-6 began when the Bureau of Aeronautics requested designs for an all-weather attack aircraft capable of performing short-distance takeoff and landings. Further, the jet needed to be able to perform long-range interdiction missions (for the Navy) and provide close air support (for the Marines).

Initially, the A-6 was meant to directly replace the Douglas A-1 Skyraider – but the A-1 managed to stay in service a little longer, overlapping with the A-6 for ten years until 1973 – at which point the World War II-designed A-1 was a dinosaur.

While creating the A-6, designers were excited to drop in a turbine engine (the A-1 didn’t have a turbine engine and was confined to fair weather operations as a result). The new jet would be able to operate in all-weather conditions. The call for turbine engine-based designs led to eleven applications being submitted (from eight companies). Boeing, Lockheed, North American, Bell, and Douglas all put their hats in the ring. Grumman won the contract – and they would soon win a far more lucrative and prestigious contract: the Lunar Excursion Module that Apollo astronauts would land on the moon.

What Made the A-6 Intruder Special 

Grumman’s finished product entered service in 1963; the A-6 was billed as the world’s first ever all-weather attack aircraft. One of the more peculiar aspects of the A-6 was that it arranged the two operators side-by-side. The pilot sat on the left. The bombardier/navigator sat on the right (and slightly behind the pilot so as to not impede the pilot’s field of vision). Of course, in most two-seaters, the navigator would be in the back, directly behind the pilot.

The A-6 also featured a Vertical Display Indicator (VDI) – a then cutting-edge instrument that projected a synthetic representation of the landscape in front of the A-6, which helped the crew navigate in the challenging conditions they were often asked to fly.

Curiously, unlike so many of its contemporaries, the A-6 was not capable of breaking the sound barrier. Instead, the A-6 plodded along at subsonic speed; the A-6 maxed out at 640 miles per hour, climbed at 7,620 feet per minute, and had a service ceiling of 42,400 feet – none of which are especially impressive. The jet’s g-limit was 6.5. Obviously, the A-6 was not built with the performance specifications demanded of some air superiority jets.

Instead, the A-6 was built to hulk tons and tons of weaponry over enemy lines, regardless of the weather outside.

To carry weaponry, the A-6 had five hard points. Each hard point could handle about two tons. In all, the A-6 could handle nine tons of payload. The high capacity weapons payload came in handy during the Vietnam War, where the A-6 was heavily relied upon.

Although the low-flying A-6 was often targeted; the Viet Cong shot down 84 A-6s during the Vietnam War and many A-6 crew members suffered as prisoners of war.

About the Author

Harrison Kass is a prolific defense and national security writer. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, he joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. He lives in Oregon and listens to Dokken. Follow him on Twitter @harrison_kass.

Image Credit: Creative Commons.