news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

in order to strengthen its combat advantage in the electromagnetic field, the us military has continuously introduced and updated various types of electronic warfare equipment. according to a report on the british jane's defense weekly website on september 2, the us air force has received the first ea-37b electronic warfare aircraft at davis-monthan air force base in tucson, arizona, and has begun crew training. this is seen by the outside world as a so-called new weapon tailored by the us military for the era of "great power competition". how it will develop in the future is worth continued attention.

on august 28, the u.s. air force's first ea-37b electronic warfare aircraft prepared to participate in flight training.

accelerate the replacement

the ea-37b electronic warfare aircraft originated from the us air force ec-x project plan, which aims to develop a new type of electronic warfare aircraft to replace the us air force's current ec-130h "compass call" electronic warfare aircraft. the ec-130h first flew in 1981, began to be delivered in 1982, and had initial operational capability in 1983. the us air force received a total of 14 of this type of aircraft, mainly equipped with the 55th electronic warfare group. this type of aircraft has participated in military operations such as the gulf war, the kosovo war, the afghanistan war and the iraq war, becoming one of the models with the longest continuous deployment time in local wars of the us military in recent years.

however, the ec-130h electronic warfare aircraft has been overloaded for many years, and the fuselage is seriously worn out and aged. in addition, although this electronic warfare aircraft, which has been in service for more than 40 years, has undergone technical upgrades in terms of accuracy and network warfare, its overall performance has gradually fallen behind, and there is very limited room for improvement. for this reason, the us air force has gradually retired this type of aircraft since january 2020. by the end of fiscal year 2023, only 6 aircraft are left in service, with an attendance rate of 33%.

to ensure the advantage in electronic warfare, as early as 2015, the us air force began to solicit demonstration plans from many world-renowned aircraft manufacturers, hoping to convert small business jets into a new generation of electronic warfare aircraft. in 2017, the us military officially announced the ec-x project plan and finalized it, with l3 harris of the united states as the main contractor, and the carrier platform being a modified model of the company's gulfstream g550 business jet; the research, development, production and integration of airborne mission equipment were handed over to the british bae systems. in october 2021, the new aircraft completed its first flight. in september 2023, the first aircraft was delivered to the us air force for testing.

significant performance improvement

the report said that the first ea-37b electronic warfare aircraft (no. 19-5591) received by the us air force on august 23 uses a wide-area airborne electromagnetic attack weapon system and is a long-range full-spectrum electromagnetic countermeasure platform for the us military. the us air force stated in a press release that the aircraft is mainly used to perform theater-level electronic warfare missions, responsible for long-range electronic interference, suppression and deception of enemy command communications, radars, combat data links and other systems, and cooperates with early warning aircraft, electronic reconnaissance aircraft, etc. to carry out signal reconnaissance, communication interference and air defense suppression of the enemy. with the continuous evolution of future battlefields, this type of aircraft is expected to play a role in multiple fields, including cyberspace operations and unmanned system coordination.

although the core electronic warfare system used by the ea-37b is derived from the ec-130h, the overall performance of the ea-37b has been significantly improved compared to the latter.

adopting a new aircraft platform. the ec-130h's aircraft platform is a c-130 medium tactical transport aircraft equipped with four turboprop engines, while the ea-37b's aircraft platform is a modified gulfstream g550 business jet equipped with twin turbofan engines. it is lighter and has improved fuel economy. its key indicators such as flight speed, cruising altitude and range far exceed those of the ec-130h. due to the smaller size of the aircraft body, operating costs are reduced by 50%.

relying on the civil aircraft supply chain. compared with the c-130 military transport aircraft platform, the gulfstream g550, as a high-end business jet, can provide a quiet and comfortable cabin operating environment when performing missions, and its civil aircraft appearance is also somewhat "deceptive", which can reduce the accuracy of the opponent's radar identification and increase the difficulty of verification. the replacement and maintenance of spare parts of the carrier platform can also rely on the civil aircraft supply chain, which improves the stability, convenience and economy of fleet operation and support throughout the life cycle.

facilitates future technology upgrades. about 70% of the mission equipment on the ea-37b is installed or modified from the ec-130h, the most important of which is the "compass call" system. however, due to the adoption of a new "modular open system architecture", the ea-37b can quickly integrate many new technologies without major adjustments to the hardware configuration, which helps reduce upgrade costs.

development still has variables

the us air force plans to purchase 10 ea-37b electronic warfare aircraft and deliver them to the 43rd electronic warfare squadron under the 55th electronic warfare group. the second one is scheduled to be delivered before the end of this year. the first five aircraft will use the "baseline 3" configuration, and the subsequent aircraft will use the newly developed "baseline 4" configuration. the core of the "baseline 4" configuration is an open reconfigurable dynamic architecture, and a new low-frequency jamming system is introduced. this reflects that the us military has been stepping up the construction of electromagnetic spectrum forces in recent years.

however, it is still questionable whether the ea-37b electronic warfare aircraft can meet the needs of the us military as soon as possible. the us military's positioning of the aircraft is directly reflected in the change of its name. corresponding to the planned name of the ec-x project, the aircraft was originally named ec-37b (aircraft converted from transport aircraft are usually named with "ec" at the beginning), and was officially renamed ea-37b in 2023 (aircraft converted from attack aircraft are usually named with "ea" at the beginning). the change from ec to ea means that the aircraft is no longer just a jamming platform, but an offensive weapon system that can perform a wider range of electronic warfare tasks and can serve as a "all-rounder" in electromagnetic spectrum operations.

at present, it seems that it is the high expectations that have slowed down the delivery of this type of aircraft. according to the requirements of the us military, the first ea-37b was originally planned to be deployed in 2023 and form initial combat capabilities. the sixth ec-37b electronic warfare aircraft directly using the "baseline 4" configuration purchased by the us air force in fiscal year 2021 was originally scheduled to be deployed in 2026. with the deployment of the first aircraft delayed by about a year, how it will develop in the future remains to be seen.