Air Force receives new aircraft for electronic-attack missions

The Air Force’s last week took possession of its first EA-37B Compass Call electronic-attack aircraft slated for training and operations, flying it into Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona.

Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, head of Air Combat Command, flew on the new aircraft during its Aug. 23 delivery flight and performed co-pilot duties during its landing and taxiing phase, the command said in a statement. The plane took off from L3Harris Technologies’ facility in Waco, Texas, where it was heavily adapted from a Gulfstream G550 business jet with electronic attack components built by BAE Systems.

“For a pilot, there’s nothing better than picking up a brand-new aircraft from a factory and delivering it to the warfighters,” Wilsbach said. “It flies like a dream, and for those of you who are going to get to fly it … it’s going to be amazing.”

The Air Force plans to buy 10 EA-37B Compass Calls, which will conduct multiple electronic-warfare missions. It will jam enemy communications, radar and navigation signals, among others, and suppress enemy air defenses by blocking their ability to transmit information between weapon systems and command-and-control networks.

The Compass Call’s systems also allow airmen to hack into wireless devices and defuse roadside bombs. ACC says the new planes will protect U.S. and partner forces from attack, and allow them to get closer to their targets.

The EA-37B will replace the Air Force’s decades-old EC-130H Compass Call fleet, which was flown heavily during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and are now being retired. Nine EC-130Hs have so far been retired, out of the fleet of 14 older Compass Calls.

The EA-37B’s mission and capabilities will be largely similar to those of the older EC-130s, Air Force officials have said.

But the new Compass Call’s air frame is expected to bring significant altitude and speed improvements over its predecessor. The EC-130 could fly up to 25,000 feet and up to 300 miles per hour, but the G550 air frame that the EA-37B is being built on can top 40,000 feet of altitude and nearly double the speed of the older aircraft. L3Harris said that will allow the new Compass Call to target a greater range of enemy activities.

The Air Force already has two EA-37Bs devoted to testing, operated by Air Force Materiel Command; the first of those was delivered in 2023.

The latest EA-37B will initially be used to train pilots and aircrew in operating the aircraft before taking on actual missions, ACC said. The aircraft It is assigned to the 55th Electronic Combat Group at Davis-Monthan, which reports to the 55th Wing at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska.

Davis-Monthan expects to receive its second EA-37B by the end of the year.