WorldTekhno.com – To disrupt enemy signals in combat, the U.S. Air Force is equipping itself with a new fleet: the EC-37B Compass Call fighter, which will replace the EC-130 Air Combat Command aircraft. The EC-37B is the result of a BAE Systems and L3Harris contractor assembly assembled in Hudson, New Hampshire, integrating a special device on a Gulfstream G550 business jet. The first of 10 of these EC-37B fighter aircraft was recently delivered.
The mission to create the EC-37B Compass Call fighter aircraft will perform a variety of electronic warfare missions by jamming enemy signals, including communications, radar and navigation systems. BAE says this includes suppressing enemy air defences by jamming their ability to transmit information between weapons systems and command and control networks.
ACC commander Gen Mark Kelly said the EC-37B Compass Call’s jamming capabilities will protect ships and aircraft from enemy attack and allow it to get closer to targets.
The capabilities of the EC-37B Compass Call jet will not be much different from the previous EC-130, the increased altitude and speed that will come with the EC-37B Compass Call makes it much more agile than its predecessor.
Keep in mind that the EC-130 aircraft has an altitude of 25,000 feet and can fly at speeds of up to 300 miles per hour, but the EC-37B Compass Call will be better. Even for testing, the EC-37B Compass Call will focus on ensuring that the mission system integration works properly. This includes ensuring that 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 ramp up the jamming power or request a certain waveform, that waveform has to come out with the amount of ramp, power and frequency that we request,” Kelly said. Kelly said he does not see Wingman drones or the Air Force’s planned collaborative fighter jets, some of which could conduct electronic warfare operations, as something that could ultimately replace Compass Call. Instead, he said, CCA will complement the Compass Call fleet, along with the EW capabilities of the F-35 and F-15EX.
However, the air force needs to make sure that these different platforms operating in the same airspace do not interfere with each other.Kelly said that everything has to be integrated, and they have to operate and make sure they don’t collide with each other (electronically).***
