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The EC-37B fleet will replace the Air Combat Command’s aging EC-130 aircraft. (Photo: Defense News)
JAKARTA – The American Air Force has a new fleet, the EC-37B Compass Call. The first unit of 10 fighter jets was just handed over by contractors BAE Systems and L3Harris on Tuesday. The EC-37B fleet will replace the Air Combat Command’s aging EC-130 aircraft.
Compass Call’s EC-37B is assembled in Hudson, New Hampshire, integrating special devices into a Gulfstream G550 business jet.
The EC-37B Compass Call fighter jet will carry out various electronic warfare missions to disrupt enemy signals, including communications, radar and navigation systems. BAE says this includes suppressing enemy air defenses by blocking their ability to transmit information between weapons systems and command and control networks.
Quoted from Defense News, ACC Commander General Mark Kelly said the EC-37B Compass Call’s jamming capabilities would protect ships and aircraft from enemy attacks and allow it to get closer to targets.
“The mission and capabilities of the EC-37B Compass Call will not be much different from the EC-130,” Kelly said.
However, the increase in altitude and speed that will occur on the EC-37B Compass Call makes it much more agile than its predecessor. The EC-130 aircraft has a ceiling of 25,000 feet and can fly at speeds up to 300 miles per hour. While the EC-37B Compass Call will be better than that.
Kelly said testing of the EC-37B Compass Call will primarily focus on ensuring its mission systems integration is working properly.
This includes ensuring the new Compass Call systems can communicate with each other at the right time, and that their jamming capabilities are functional and do not interfere with the aircraft’s environmental systems.
“When we increase jamming power, or ask for a certain waveform, that waveform has to come out with the amount of ramp, power, and frequency that we ask for,” Kelly said.