Key Points
- A U.S. Air Force EC-130H flew its final flight on September 3, in formation for the first time with its EA-37B replacement over Southern Arizona.
- The EC-130H has flown the Compass Call electronic attack mission since 1982, while the EA-37B has flown its own combat missions against Iran since March.
A U.S. Air Force EC-130H Compass Call aircraft flew in formation with an EA-37B Compass Call for the first time on September 3, in what the Air Force identified as the EC-130H’s final flight, marking the end of the propeller-driven aircraft’s role in the service’s electronic attack mission.
Both aircraft belong to the 55th Electronic Combat Group, flying together over Southern Arizona near the group’s base at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. The formation flight represented the handoff between the two aircraft types: the EC-130H, a modified C-130 that has flown the Compass Call jamming mission since 1982, and the EA-37B, its Gulfstream G550-based successor.
The Compass Call mission disrupts, denies and degrades enemy command-and-control networks, using electronic attack to jam communications and radar systems that adversaries rely on to coordinate their forces. The 55th Electronic Combat Group, a geographically separated unit under the 55th Wing at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, has been the Air Force’s only unit flying that mission.
– ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW –
The Air Force began retiring individual EC-130H aircraft years ago as EA-37Bs entered service. The 43rd Electronic Combat Squadron flew its last EC-130H mission in February 2024, becoming the first squadron under the 55th Electronic Combat Group to complete the switch. By this past spring, only a handful of EC-130H aircraft remained in the fleet, according to earlier reporting on the transition. The Air Force plans to field 10 EA-37Bs in total.
The EA-37B has already flown in combat. Two of the aircraft deployed from Davis-Monthan through RAF Mildenhall in the United Kingdom to Souda Bay, Crete, in late March, then entered the fight against Iran as part of Operation Epic Fury, which began February 28. Their mission there mirrored the EC-130H’s traditional role: jamming enemy communications and blinding air defense radar.
Over nearly four decades, EC-130H aircraft supported combat operations including Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom and Inherent Resolve. One of the type’s original aircraft, tail number 1587, flew close to 29,000 hours before its own retirement in 2020, including almost 11,000 hours in direct support of combat missions.
