The Air Force wants 22 EA-37B Compass Call electronic attack aircraft — nearly doubling a fleet that did not exist five years ago. The FY2027 budget request includes $660 million for three new jets, with plans to buy seven more through 2031. It is the biggest bet on airborne electronic warfare since the Navy retired the EA-6B Prowler. The EA-37B is a modified Gulfstream G550 business jet packed with electronic warfare systems so sensitive that even the aircraft’s official capabilities remain largely classified. What is known: it can jam enemy radar, disrupt communications networks, and degrade integrated air defence systems from standoff range — all while flying at business-jet speeds and altitudes that make it nearly impossible to intercept.

Why the G550?

The original Compass Call was an EC-130H — a modified Hercules turboprop that first flew electronic attack missions in 1982. It was effective but slow, vulnerable, and increasingly unable to keep pace with fast-moving strike packages of F-35s and F-15EXs. The leap to a Gulfstream business jet was radical. The G550 cruises at Mach 0.87 and above 40,000 feet — faster and higher than any tactical fighter except at full afterburner. It has intercontinental range. And its pressurised, air-conditioned cabin provides a stable environment for the racks of electronic warfare equipment that give Compass Call its teeth.

BAE Systems integrates the electronic warfare suite. L3Harris provides additional systems. The exact capabilities are classified, but open-source reporting suggests the EA-37B can target specific emitters — individual radar arrays, command links between air defence batteries and their headquarters, even datalinks between fighter aircraft.

The Electronic Warfare Gap

The expansion to 22 aircraft reflects a hard lesson from recent conflicts. Russia and China have invested heavily in integrated air defence systems — the S-400, S-500, HQ-9B — that can detect and engage stealth aircraft under certain conditions. Jamming those systems from standoff range is not optional; it is a prerequisite for any credible strike package to survive. The Navy has the EA-18G Growler for carrier-based electronic attack. The Air Force had nothing comparable until the EA-37B. Doubling the fleet signals that the Pentagon considers airborne electronic warfare a first-day-of-war capability, not a supporting role.

The E-11A Trade-Off

The EA-37B expansion comes with a casualty. The Air Force also announced plans to retire the E-11A BACN — another modified business jet (Bombardier Global Express) that serves as an airborne communications relay in Afghanistan and the Middle East. The service argues that the EA-37B’s communications disruption mission and the E-11A’s relay mission represent overlapping investments in similar airframes. Not everyone in the Pentagon agrees. Twenty-two jets that can blind an enemy’s air defences, silence their radios, and sever the links between their sensors and shooters. In an era where electronic warfare may matter more than stealth, the Compass Call fleet just became one of the Air Force’s most important assets.

Sources: Air & Space Forces Magazine, The Aviationist, Defense News