The sixth EA-37B by L3Harris Technologies [LHX] and BAE Systems is to arrive in Waco, Texas this month for integration of BAE’s electromagnetic warfare system, as the companies pitch the U.S. Air Force and Congress on more than doubling the current, planned buy of 10 planes–the service program of record.
“When you think about countering enemy kill webs, it’s no longer a one versus one threat versus technique,” Dave Harrold, BAE’s vice president and general manager of countermeasure and electromagnetic attack solutions, told reporters on Monday. “It’s about being able to persecute a variety of threats simultaneously because that’s the complex environment we’re dealing with.”
Since 2023, Congress has received industry briefings on the need to double the Air Force’s planned buy to counter the threat from China (Defense Daily, Oct. 27, 2023).
The EA-37B is to replace the current EC-130H Compass Call and is based on General Dynamics’ [GD] Gulfstream G550 business jet, which is to give the Air Force a faster aircraft with a higher ceiling, endurance, and range. The EA-37Bs are to be based with Air Combat Command’s 55th Electronic Combat Group at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., and are to rely on a software-defined radio architecture, which is to allow other companies to write software for the plane’s systems.
“In partnership with BAE Systems and Gulfstream, we have proposed to Congress and the Pentagon to expand the fleet size of the EA-37B Compass Call electromagnetic aircraft, potentially doubling the fleet to meet the warfighting combatant commander’s requirements for electromagnetic spectrum dominance,” L3Harris said on Monday.
“In addition to the 10 aircraft fleet, the proposal includes four aircraft to be added to the program objective memorandum in fiscal 2027,” the company said. “The proposal recommends and suggests the addition of two of those four aircraft in unfunded priorities lists in fiscal 2026.”
The G550 is out of production so that, if the Air Force wishes to add to its current plan of 10 EC-37Bs, the service may have to buy used G550s from corporate executives. Jason Lambert, president of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance at L3Harris, said on Monday that 20-25 business jets are regularly available for modification into EA-37Bs.
Since one of L3Harris’ predecessors–L3 Technologies–received the first EA-37B-related contract in 2017, L3Harris has been in charge of “cross decking” equipment from the EC-130H. L3Harris and BAE Systems are also prime contractors on the EC-130H, which entered service in 1982. The Air Force bought 14 of these heavily modified Lockheed Martin [LMT] C-130Hs and is retiring them.
BAE builds the EA-37B mission system at the company’s electronic systems unit in Nashua, N.H., and L3Harris integrates the system into the G550 at its aircraft missionization center in Waco, Texas.
“Of the 10 EA-37B under contract for USAF, 1-6 were new off the production line,” the companies said on Monday. “7-10 were pre-owned and modified back to original production configuration.”
In addition to the Air Force, Italy is a potential foreign buyer of the EA-37B, which the companies believe may see a greater market overseas than in the U.S.