The retirement formalises the transition to the new EA-37B jet, which has assumed the Compass Call name.
A formal retirement ceremony was held at Davis-Monthan AFB in Arizona on 18 September to honour the last EC-130H Compass Call, tail 1590, as it conducted its final operational taxi.
Taking its first flight in 1981, the Lockheed Martin EC-130H Compass Call has aided the US Air Force (USAF) and other US military forces in defence missions for the past four decades.
The aircraft completed its final operational flight on 2 September.
“That flight was the culmination of six years of late shifts, pride, and constant battles to keep that plane flying,” says Staff Sergeant Justin Franko, 755th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron dedicated crew chief. “It represents our team coming together as a family to accomplish the mission and ultimately see this aircraft off with the honour it deserves.”
The EC-130H will be replaced by the EA-37B. Currently, there are five EA-37B aircraft in service, with an additional five aircraft already under contract and in production. Furthermore, according to its fiscal year 2027 budget request released in April 2026, the USAF plans to spend just under $2.9 billion to acquire 12 more EA-37B aircraft.
Unlike the EC-130H, which is turboprop-powered and low-flying, the EA-37B uses a heavily modified Gulfstream G550 and can operate at 51,000ft, more than double the maximum altitude of the EC-130H. The EA-37B can also fly at speeds up to 520kt (960km/h) – twice the top speed of the EC-130H – and requires 30% less onboard crew.
Colonel Eric Rumble, 55th Electronic Combat Group commander, says that the EC-130H retirement ceremony was not just about the aircraft itself but also the airmen who flew it.
“None of what we have done happened because of an airframe,” says Rumble. “Airplanes don’t build legacies, people do.”
Colonel Aaron Gray, 55th Wing commander at Offutt Air Force Base, emphasises that the EC-130H ceremony was about “the missions [the airmen] flew, the people they protected, the enemies they disrupted, and the sacrifices made by thousands of men and women who became part of the Compass Call family”.
“We are retiring the EC-130; we are not retiring Compass Call,” Gray says. “The mission continues with the EA-37B.”
The ceremony marked the EC-130H’s official transfer from the 55th Electronic Combat Group to the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group.
The aircraft will enter the “boneyard” on 21 September.
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