The ES-3A Shadow variant of the basic S-3 Viking airframe was a short-lived but immensely valuable and capable platform optimized for signals capture and analysis.
The heart of the Shadow was an avionics suite based on the Aries II system of the land-based EP-3E Orion. The Shadow’s fuselage was packed with sensor stations and processing equipment and the exterior that supported over 60 antennas. The ES-3A Shadow crew comprised of a pilot, an naval flight officer, and two systems operators. Advanced sensor, navigation and communications systems allowed the Shadow’s four-person crew to collect extensive data and distribute high-quality information through a variety of channels to the carrier battle group. This gave the battle group commander a clear picture of potential airborne, surface and sub-surface threats. Missions flown by the detachment included over-the-horizon (OTH) targeting, strike support, war at sea and reconnaissance.
The ES-3A was considered a direct replacement for the EA-3B Skywarrior, yet had the same flight characteristics as the base Viking albeit with a slight decrease in top end speed. It was also capable of providing aerial refueling in addition to its electronic work.
Two squadrons, VQ-5 and VQ-6, were established in 1991 with one based on each coast of the US. In total, 16 Vikings were converted to the ES-3A configuration and they were typically operated two aircraft per deployed carrier. The squadrons were disestablished in 1999.
Source: irp.fas.org
Station HYPO 
1 September 2022 at 00:09
ADM Nathman, at the time OPNAV ~1996 was looking for dollars to allow the purchase of additional F/A-18’s. He asked:
“What about those VQ SIGINT Birds? Don’t we have land based EP-3E’s that do the same mission?”
Answer was yes…however if could take anywhere from 48 or more hours to get an EP-3E SIGINT bird in theater to support the carrier battle group where as the ES-3A SIGINT bird is already embarked on the carrier. Consider also that we could see up to 2 months for the Saudi Arabian government for example to approve in country landing rights for an EP-3E to operate in country.
ADM Nathman opted to disestablish both VQ-5 and VQ-6, take the money dedicated to operate both squadrons and apply them to the F/A-18 program. Hence, the carriers subsequently lost their organic SIGINT capability.
Today, the 16 ES-3A’s remain in storage at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, Arizona:
https://www.google.com/maps/search/Davis-Monthan+Air+Force+Base,+5355+E.+Granite+Street,+Building+2441+Tucson,+AZ+85707/@32.1571984,-110.8356959,235m/data=!3m1!1e3
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2 November 2022 at 14:57
Another victim of the “Peace Dividend” spoken of by Bush #1. Once again we shoot ourselves in the foot. Also loss of in-flight refueling capability of the E-3A. Now the Navy has to burn up FA-18 hours using them as refueling platforms. And let’s not forget the LCS and Zumwalt classes! Grrrrrr!
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