The contract covers the installation of the Compass Call Baseline 4 suite on the remaining four aircraft of the new EA-37B fleet.
BAE Systems has been contracted to provide the mission system for the last four of the ten EA-37B being acquired by the U.S. Air Force. The next-generation Compass Call Baseline 4 mission systems will deliver powerful, long-range electromagnetic attack capabilities to disrupt and suppress the enemy’s use of the electromagnetic spectrum for communications, navigation, and air defense.
“The EA-37B’s unique and exquisite EW capabilities make it a powerful asset for the U.S. Air Force and coalition forces,” said Duane Beaulieu, Compass Call technical director at BAE Systems. “As the EA-37B fleet comes online, the Air Force will be better equipped to dominate the electromagnetic spectrum.”
Compass Call disrupts enemy command and control communications, radars, and navigation systems and limits adversary coordination, as part of the Counter-Command, Control, Computers, Communications, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Targeting (Counter-C5ISRT) mission. Restricting an adversary’s battlespace coordination and force management, as well as suppressing the air defenses, is essential in today’s operational scenarios to improve the chances of missions’ success.
Compass Call is the Department of Defense’s only long-range, full-spectrum stand-off electromagnetic warfare jamming platform and, together with the EA-18G Growler and the F-16CM Block 50/52 Fighting Falcon, is part of the US Suppression of Enemy Air Defense (SEAD) triad. Future mission system modernization efforts will enhance counter-C5ISRT operations and use software-defined radios and an open architecture to rapidly insert new capabilities to address evolving threats.
Ten EA-37Bs will replace the 14 EC-130H operated by the 55th Electronic Combat Group (ECG) at Davis-Monthan AFB, of which nine have already been divested and stored at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group, as of November 2023. The EA-37B is currently undergoing development and operational testing ahead of the delivery to the 55th ECG this year.
You can find out more about the EC-37B Compass Call in the detailed report we published here at The Aviationist last year.
Stefano D’Urso is a freelance journalist and contributor to TheAviationist based in Lecce, Italy. A graduate in Industral Engineering he’s also studying to achieve a Master Degree in Aerospace Engineering. Electronic Warfare, Loitering Munitions and OSINT techniques applied to the world of military operations and current conflicts are among his areas of expertise.
