On the morning of March 31, two aircraft that barely anyone outside the electronic warfare community has heard of touched down at RAF Mildenhall in England. They had left Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona the day before, refuelled at McGuire in New Jersey, and crossed the Atlantic under the callsigns AXIS41 and AXIS43. They are EA-37B Compass Calls \u2014 the U.S. Air Force\u2019s newest and most capable electronic attack jets. And they appear to be heading to war.<\/p>\n
Flight tracking enthusiasts spotted the pair almost immediately. Serial numbers 19-1587 and 17-5579, assigned to the 55th Electronic Combat Group, lit up on open-source trackers as they made their transatlantic crossing. A Kalitta Air Boeing 747-400 cargo aircraft had departed Davis-Monthan with a follow-on flight plan to Istanbul, strongly suggesting the EA-37Bs\u2019 next stop is Turkey \u2014 and from there, the Middle East.<\/p>\n
If confirmed, this would mark the EA-37B\u2019s first operational deployment. The aircraft only flew its first training sortie in May 2025. It visited Europe in January on a \u201croadshow\u201d that the Air Force explicitly described as non-operational. That distinction no longer applies.<\/p>\n
From the outside, the EA-37B looks like what it is: a modified Gulfstream G550 business jet, the kind of aircraft you might see parked at Zurich or Teterboro. But the resemblance ends at the fuselage. Distinctive bulging \u201ccheek\u201d fairings on either side of the aircraft house an electronic warfare suite that can reach deep into enemy airspace without the jet ever crossing a border.<\/p>\n
The Compass Call jams enemy radar systems, disrupts military communications, and blinds the command-and-control networks that coordinate air defence batteries, missile launchers, and ground forces. Its secondary role is intelligence collection \u2014 it spots, tracks, and geolocates the very emitters it is designed to suppress. The \u201cA\u201d in EA-37B stands for \u201cattack,\u201d reflecting a capability that goes beyond mere jamming into actively degrading and destroying electronic targets.<\/p>\n
Captain Tyler Laska of the 55th Wing put it in operational terms: \u201cEvery moment of hesitation we can implant into an adversary\u2019s decision-making process increases survivability of our personnel.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nEA-37Bs 19-1587 and 17-5579 as AXIS41 and AXIS43 are deploying to RAF Mildenhall via McGuire AFB. This is the first operational deployment for the EA-37B. pic.twitter.com\/6InlHCdLnd<\/a><\/p>\n