The Navy needs to stop criticizing Air Force electronic warfare plans and bring its EW capabilities to the joint fight, says Air Force Gen. Ronald Keys, Air Combat Command (ACC) commander.

Navy officials have been criticizing Air Force plans to use modified B-52 aircraft for certain electronic warfare needs. Not only would the plan take twice as long as the five years the Air Force said it would, Navy officials say, but the B-52 system would still have EW gaps.

In a Nov. 3 interview, Keys acknowledged that the B-52 EW system would initially have gaps. But, he added, the overall U.S. military plan all along had been for the Navy to cover some of those airborne EW gaps with naval EA-18G Growlers.

One of the reasons that the Air Force retired its EF-111 EW plans, Keys said, was because the Navy and the Air Force had agreed it would cover that capability with a joint Prowler fleet.

Air Force pilots also fly the Prowler planes.

In its recent EW plans, the Navy had included enough Growlers to cover naval operations, but not joint operations, Keys said.

"Joint requirements need to be done jointly," Keys said.

That kind of EW protection is supposed to be for the joint force, not just Navy assets, he said.

"I'm knocking down the door for the joint force," he said, adding that he expected the Navy to provide the airborne EW protection that it is supposed to for joint operations.

The Air Force had been working on a large-scale EW B-52 version, and as the requirements mounted up, so did the price tag, reaching about $7 billion.

Now, Keys said, the Air Force is seeking a "meat-and-potatoes" EW suite for modified B-52s that would provide cover for its stealthy aircraft, like the F-22 Raptor. The B-52s would provide effective and survivable standoff capabilities against long-range and early warning surveillance radars for all air platforms.

The Raptor has its own EW capabilities, but Keys said it was uncertain now how those sensors would be used in the digital domain.