As the state’s lawsuit against the U.S. Navy for the Growler expansion violating the National Environmental Policy Act pends, the Navy has tested one promising technology to reduce their noise on Naval Air Station Whidbey.
According to the U.S. Department of Defense, the mechanical device, called a chevron, is installed at the end of the jet engine’s exhaust nozzle. While numerous tests have shown chevrons reduce the noise level, it’s not as simple as it seems.
For starters, chevrons require redesigning the jet engine. This, of course, will require more testing. At this time, chevron’s official use as a noise-mitigation measure remains uncertain.
In recent years, the Navy has tested several other technologies to reduce jet engine noise, such as corrugated seals, water injection, air injection and plasma actuators. All of these were rejected due to their drawbacks, be it corrosion, weight or overall aircraft performance. In total, the FA-18 and EA-18G Growler program office has spent over $5.6 million on jet engine noise reduction.
Not everyone on Whidbey supports the push for noise reduction.
“There’s a lot of people in the southern part of Whidbey that whine about the aircraft touch and go, and frankly I’m saddened every time I hear that,” said Terry Sparks, president of Whidbey’s chapter of the Military Officers Association. “I’m not mad, I’m saddened, because that’s the last thing they do before they have to qualify, is make sure they don’t crash on the carrier. When they’re doing that, all those people are touching, going and all their crews associated with them are getting ready to go underway someplace, and they’ll be gone for at least six months, maybe nine, maybe 12.”
The activist organization Citizens of Ebey’s Reserve argues that the problem goes beyond the aircraft’s “touch and go.”
In August of 2022, a federal judge ruled that the Growler expansion program illegally failed to analyze the impacts of the jets on local classrooms and on bird species such as the tufted puffin which is endangered in the state of Washington. The court also ruled in favor of two claims filed by the Citizens of Ebey’s Reserve, that the Navy did not consider other locations for the Growler’s expansion or its greenhouse gas impacts.
Litigation and research have made slow progress as the Navy conducts a new environmental impact study.
Michael Welding, NAS Whidbey public affairs officer, and State Rep. Rick Larsen declined to comment. Elizabeth Fahrner, public affairs officer of the program’s executive office for tactical aircraft, declined to provide specific results of chevron testing or any sort of timeline.
