The United States Air Combat Command (ACC) received its first EA-37B Compass Call aircraft, 19-5591, at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, Arizona, on August 27, 2024.
The EA-37B is an airborne electromagnetic attack system housed within a heavily modified Gulfstream G550 airframe.
Its purpose is to deny, degrade, and disrupt adversary communications, navigation, radar systems, and other radio-controlled threats. It also provides offensive counter-information and electromagnetic attack capabilities supporting US and coalition tactical air, surface, and special operations forces.
“The EA-37B is the right choice right now because as we continue to pivot toward Great Power Competition, we have adversaries that are developing long-range kill chain ecosystems and anti-access area denial capabilities,” said General Thomas Hensley, 16th Air Force commander. “The Compass Call will allow us to do things in the non-kinetic spectrum as well as the electromagnetic spectrum to give us the advantage and not them.”
The EA-37B is now assigned to the 55th Electronic Combat Group (ECG) and will be operated by the 43rd Electronic Combat Squadron and maintained by the Contractor Logistics Support Aircraft Maintenance team at Davis-Monthan AFB. Initially, the first aircraft will be used for pilot mission planning and training.
The EA-37B is set to replace the older EC-130H Compass Call at Davis-Monthan AFB. The EC-130H, a heavily modified version of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport aircraft, has been a mainstay at the base since the early 1980s. It has a crew of 13, whereas the EA-37B will have a crew of nine.
As part of the Compass Call Rehost program awarded to L3 Harris, most of the original “Compass Call” suite will be transplanted from the C-130 airframe to the G550. The 55th ECG is the sole operator of Compass Call aircraft.
Nine of the 14 EC-130H aircraft have been divested to date. A second EA-37B aircraft is expected to arrive at Davis-Monthan AFB by the end of 2024.