The U.S. Air Force plans to respond to the House Armed Services Committee’s (HASC) request for the service to lay out a requirement for EC-37B Compass Call aircraft by BAE Systems and L3Harris Technologies [LHX].
“The Air Force is in the process of drafting the report,” the service said in a Nov. 8 email.
HASC report 118-125 from June 30 on the HASC version of the fiscal 2024 defense authorization bill said that the committee “is concerned that the current programmed fleet size of 10 EC37B Compass Call aircraft is insufficient to meet Combatant Command contingency requirements in a contested electromagnetic spectrum environment.”
“The committee notes that EC–37B is the only dedicated airborne electronic attack platform in the Air Force inventory and is designed to provide the joint force with a significant tactical advantage in a potential conflict against a peer competitor. However, the committee is concerned that an insufficient fleet size will leave the joint force vulnerable in the electromagnetic spectrum during a potential conflict.”
The report language directs Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall to seek counsel from Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown and Air Force Gen. Mark Kelly, the head of Air Combat Command, in the submission of an EC-37B report to HASC by March 1. The report is to lay out “the Air Force’s plan to meet Combatant Command EC–37B capacity requirements.”
“The report should include the number of EC–37B Compass Call aircraft required to meet contingency capacity requirements for the Combatant Commands; a procurement strategy that would allow the Air Force to meet these requirements by 2027; additional resources that would be required to support the number of aircraft required; and equivalent partner nation capabilities that can be leveraged to meet Combatant Command capacity requirements.”
While the Air Force declined comment on whether the upcoming fiscal 2025 budget will request more EC-37Bs, the Air Force has discussed buying an additional 12 EC-37Bs to counter threats in the Indo-Pacific (Defense Daily, Oct. 27).
The service is planning to field 10 EC-37Bs to replace the EC-130H, which uses electronic attack and counter-information to disrupt adversary communications and navigation and to suppress air defenses. The Air Force accepted the first EC-130H in 1982 and has 14 of them.
The EC-37B is based on
General Dynamics’ [GD] Gulfstream G550 business jet. The companies have said that the G550 is faster, can stay aloft longer and operate at higher altitudes to give it “improved survivability and range.”
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.
BAE builds the EC-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.
BAE and L3Harris are also the prime contractors on the EC-130H–a heavily modified Lockheed Martin [LMT] C-130 Hercules.