U.S. approval for overseas sale of EA-37B compass to Italy

The Department of State has approved FMS for Italy of an unspecified number of EA-37B aircraft, two years after the Ministry of Defense first mentioned its intention to acquire the electronic attack system.

The U.S. Department of State approved on October 7, 2024, the foreign military sale to Italy of the EA-37B aircraft and its electronic attack mission system. The announcement comes two years after the Italian Ministry of Defense first mentioned its intention to acquire the Electronic Attack system to equip two Gulfstream G-550 aircraft.

Pursuant to the DSCA notice, Italy has submitted an application for the procurement of the Electronic Attack (EA)-37B mission system, consisting of the following equipment, other than core defense equipment: Network-Based Collaborative Targeting (NCCT) systems; System control and monitoring subsystems; Radio frequency receiver (RFR) subsystems; Software-defined radio (SDR) subsystems; Anti-Radar Team; blackboard panels; AN/ARC-210 RT-2036 radios; KG-250 network encryptors; KY-100 narrowband/broadband terminals; KIV-77 Mode 4/5 Identification Friend or Foe (IFF); AN/PYQ-10C simple key chargers.

In addition to these components, the program includes support, training, spare parts, maintenance and documentation. The quantities of individual components were not disclosed, but Italy has already mentioned its desire to purchase two aircraft. The estimated total cost is $680 million (€620 million).

“The proposed sale will improve Italy’s ability to meet current and future threats by increasing interoperability with the United States Air Force (USAF) and disrupting enemy command and control communications as Italy contributes to overseas contingency operations,” the FMS notice said. In doing so, Italy will become the first foreign government to acquire the top-secret Compass Calling System, and the Italian Air Force will become one of the few operators with a combat-proven, state-of-the-art and highly effective electronic attack capability.

Italian P-MMMS program and the possibility of electronic attack

As part of the multi-annual defense planning document (Documento Programmatico Pluriennale della Difesa) for 2022-2024, the Italian government mentioned the completion of the acquisition of the Gulfstream G550-based CAEW/BM&C capability, as well as new electronic warfare capabilities. The program called P-MMMS (Piattaforma Multi-Missione, Multi-Sensore/Multi-Mission, Multi-Sensor Platform) aims to obtain a modern facility that can be integrated with the network-centric C4ISTAR architecture and then adapted to multi-domain operations.

As we reported in 2021, several “clean” G550s are being acquired and are expected to be rebuilt at a later stage. These aircraft, called the “green JAMMS base” in the document, are to be rebuilt into CAEW and Electronic Combat variants with full mission capability. In the 2022–2024 DPP, it was first suggested that the Electronic Combat aircraft variant was the then EC-37B Compass Call, in an entry saying: “Completion of the acquisition program of new aircraft equipped and intended for electronic warfare operations (EC-37B)”.

As part of the P-MMMS program, the Italian Air Force has already purchased two G550 CAEW (Conformal Airborne Early Warning) aircraft. In 2020, among the provisions of the Defense Policy Document for 2020-2022 (Documento Programmatico della Difesa 2020-2022), there was a need for a new SIGINT (Signal Intelligence) aircraft in the form of two JAMMS (Joint Airborne Multi-sensor Multi-sensor System mission) aircraft .

The Italian JAMMS program consists of more tranches: the first one worth €1.2 billion covers the purchase of the first two FMC (Full Mission Capable) aircraft and six “green” airframes, which at a later stage can be converted to any of the JAMMS or CAEW configurations along with with logistic and infrastructure support. The Italian Air Force plans to operate a fleet of ten G550s modified for special missions. The second one, worth EUR 925 million, includes the modification of 4 of the 6 green airframes.

In 2023, the Italian Secretariat General of Defense/National Armament Directorate (responsible for the procurement of equipment, equipment and weapon systems for the Italian Armed Forces) approved the request of the Italian Air Force to convert two green G550s with option three, to the FMC Electronic Attack (EA) configuration under the second tranche of the program.

The management determined that the only solution capable of meeting the requirements was the EC-37 being developed by the United States Air Force for the Compass Call Rehost program. Once the EC-37B G550 “variant” is modified, it will be externally similar to CAEW aircraft already in service in Italy.

EA-37B compass call

The Compass Call system is an airborne tactical electronic assault weapons system installed on a heavily modified version of the C-130 Hercules, called the EC-130H Compass Call. This system disrupts enemy command and control communications, radars, and navigation systems and reduces adversary coordination, which is necessary to manage enemy forces.

Following the announcement of the type’s retirement in 2014, the United States Air Force initiated the Compass Call Rehost program, which transitioned current Compass Call systems from the EC-130H to the new EA-37B, based on the Gulfstream G550 Conformal Airborne Early Warning Aircraft (CAEW). ) airframe. The G550 has greater speed, endurance and range compared to the older EC-130H aircraft, L3Harris says, providing significantly improved survivability, as well as improved stand-off jamming capability and flexibility to counter sophisticated communications and radar threats.

As the U.S. Department of Defense’s only full-spectrum long-range electromagnetic jamming platform, Compass Call plays a key role in the U.S. Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) strategy, alongside the EA-18G Growler and the F-16CM Block 50/52 Fighting Falcon . Future updates will enhance C5ISRT counter capabilities by incorporating software-defined radios and an open architecture to quickly adapt to emerging threats.

The first five EA-37B aircraft will operate the current Compass Call Baseline 3 variant, which will be “transplanted” from the retired EC-130H aircraft. The remaining aircraft are expected to receive the improved Baseline 4 variant currently under development, which will reportedly introduce a new low-band jamming system. It is not known which variant the Italian Air Force will request, as well as which variant will be available in the US.

The heart of the new Baseline 4 system is the Small Adaptive Bank of Electronic Resources (SABER) technology developed by BAE Systems, built on a set of software-defined radios (SDR) using an open system architecture. SABER represents a significant technological leap, enabling the Compass Call weapon system to transition from a hardware platform to software-driven electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) warfare capabilities.

Given that the EC-37B airframe is significantly smaller than the EC-130H, a key agenda item was to reduce the size, weight and power (SWaP) requirements of the main mission equipment. This was achieved thanks to the new open system hardware and software solution that was used in the EC-37B, which, incidentally, also resulted in significantly lower cooling requirements for all on-board electronics.

As a result of all program efforts, the EC-37B’s operating costs will be reduced by half compared to the EC-130H Compass Call, while still being able to perform its mission at higher altitudes and speeds, and for longer distances and durations. The G550-based aircraft will also be optimized to perform missions in anti-access and area denial (A2/AD) environments, while being easily upgraded to meet new threats thanks to its modular open systems architecture.

Even more advanced capabilities could be applied to Compass Call electronics and software, as Chris O’Donnell, deputy assistant secretary of defense for platform and weapons portfolio management, said in 2022 that the Department of Defense needs targeted investments and innovative and novel capabilities, such such as cognitive EW to maintain an advantage over adversaries and counter advanced and non-traditional threats. In fact, EW’s cognitive capabilities are already being tested with the Angry Kitten ECM, so you can expect them to make their way to the EC-37B one day.

More information about the EC-37B Compass Call can be found in the detailed report we published here Aviator last year.