US Air Force retires EC-130H Compass Call after final Arizona flight

The final EC-130H Compass Call sortie was flown by the US Air Force on September 2, 2026, closing out more than four decades of front-line service for the electronic attack aircraft. 

The flight took place at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, home of the 55th Electronic Combat Group (ECG), which operated the entire EC-130H fleet. Imagery released by the 355th Wing shows the aircraft flying alongside an EA-37B Compass Call, the Gulfstream G550-based jet that will be replacing it. 

According to the 355th Wing, this was the first occasion on which the two types flew together in formation. In the same captions, the wing noted that EC-130H crews had logged more than 76,000 combat hours over the past 20 years alone in support of named operations. 

More than four decades of electronic warfare operations 

An Airman marshals an EC-130H Compass Call following its final flight at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. (Credit: U.S. Air Force photo)

The EC-130H entered service in the early 1980s as a heavily modified C-130 Hercules designed to jam adversary communications, radar and navigation signals, as well as support the suppression of enemy air defenses. It made its combat debut during Operation Just Cause in Panama in 1989 and was deployed almost continuously from 2001 onward. 

A total of fourteen airframes were converted. The first was withdrawn in 2020, and the drawdown continued alongside the transition to the EA-37B. The 55th ECG began receiving the replacement in August 2024, when Air Combat Command took delivery of its first aircraft. 

The 43rd Electronic Combat Squadron flew the EA-37B’s first mission training sortie on May 2, 2025. 

EA-37B takes over the Compass Call mission 

An EA-37B (left) and EC-130H Compass Call fly over southern Arizona during the EC-130H’s final sortie. (Credit: U.S. Air Force photo)The EA-37B carries a crew of nine, compared with 13 aboard the EC-130H. Under the Compass Call Rehost program, roughly 70% of the older aircraft’s mission equipment is to be transferred to the new airframe instead of being redesigned, allowing the air force to preserve capability through the transition. 

Five EA-37Bs had been delivered as of April 2026, half the number originally planned, and the type has yet to be formally declared operational. However, it has already deployed, flying against Iran during Operation Epic Fury from late March 2026. 

In its fiscal 2027 budget request, the air force requested $660 million to purchase three more EA-37Bs and outlined plans to acquire another seven through 2031. Those 10 aircraft would be added to the 12-aircraft program of record, which Congress increased from 10 by funding two additional jets as part of the fiscal 2026 appropriations. 

If fully funded, the plan would bring the EA-37B fleet to 22 aircraft, substantially more than the 14 EC-130Hs it is replacing. The post US Air Force retires EC-130H Compass Call after final Arizona flight appeared first on AeroTime.

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