U.S. Air Force’s EC-37B 'Compass Call' Electronic Warfare Aircraft's First Flight in 2023

BAE Systems has delivered key components for the U.S. Air Force’s first EC-37B Compass Call electronic warfare aircraft which is expected to make its first operational flight test in January 2023.

Compass Call can disrupt enemy command and control communications, radar, and navigation systems to restrict battlespace coordination. It suppresses air defenses by preventing the transmission of essential information between adversaries, their weapon systems, and control networks.

The delivery paves the way for developmental and operational flight testing of the Baseline 3 configuration of Compass Call in January 2023. Baseline 3 offers additional electronic warfare capabilities. Interim fielding is expected to follow the completion of testing by mid-2024.

“Since the program’s inception, BAE Systems has consistently delivered advanced capabilities for Compass Call,” said Jared Belinsky, director of Electronic Attack Solutions at BAE Systems. “This final hardware delivery for the first EC-37B aircraft ensures an upgrade that will continue to outpace our adversaries.”

Compass Call is being redesigned from the current EC-130H airframe model to the enhanced flight performance of a commercial business jet airframe known as the EC-37B. It is the Department of Defense’s only long range, full-spectrum stand-off electronic warfare jamming platform.

BAE Systems also recently successfully tested three third-party applications on Compass Call’s Small Adaptive Bank of Electronic Resource (SABER) technology. The hallmark of SABER is its open system architecture that enables the rapid integration of new technology through software updates instead of hardware reconfiguration. This allows for the rapid insertion of new capabilities to keep pace with emerging technologies.