Air Force bids adieu to EC-130H electronic attack plane

WASHINGTON — The Air Force has formally retired the EC-130H Compass Call, capping over 40 years of operations for the electronic attack aircraft. 

Officials said farewell to the aircraft during a ceremony on Sept. 18 at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona, where the turboprop executed its final operational taxi, according to an Air Force press release. The Arizona base is home to the 55th Electronic Combat Group that operated the Compass Call, as well as the “Boneyard” where the aircraft is scheduled to be laid to rest today. 

“This closes the door not just on my time in our squadron, but on an entire chapter of my life,” Staff Sgt. Justin Franko, dedicated crew chief at the 755th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, said of the aircraft’s concluding taxi in the release. 

The EC-130H — a version of Lockheed Martin’s C-130 turboprop modified with electronic attack equipment by BAE Systems and L3Harris — entered service in 1983 to disrupt enemy communications and jam radars. The Pentagon has disclosed that the aircraft even featured in initial stages of combat operations against Iran earlier this year in Operation Epic Fury. 

The Air Force is replacing the EC-130H with the EA-37B, which will also be dubbed the Compass Call. The new electronic attack aircraft is based on a Gulfstream G550 business jet, and will similarly wield tech from BAE integrated by L3Harris. 

“We are retiring the EC-130; we are not retiring Compass Call,” Col. Aaron Gray, commander of the 55th Wing at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, said in the Air Force’s release. “The mission continues with the EA-37B.” 

The modern Compass Call will fly at twice the altitude and double the speed of its predecessor and operate more powerful systems against adversaries, according to the Air Force. The first aircraft was delivered in August 2024. 

After previous uncertainty over the EA-37B’s fleet size, Air Force officials revealed in April that they would be boosting the forthcoming Compass Call’s fleet to 22 aircraft. Italy last year signed up to be the first export customer for the jet. 

Advanced electronic warfare is a key aspect of modern warfare, and both offensive and defensive tech to wage war in the electromagnetic spectrum will be crucial in a conflict against a peer adversary like China. Alongside the Air Force, the Navy also operates a dedicated airborne electronic attack platform in the carrier-launched EA-18G Growler.