One of the newest and most advanced aircraft in the U.S. Air Force’s fleet visited Casper on Tuesday. An EA-37B Compass Call, an electronic warfare aircraft, was spotted on the runway of Casper/Natrona County Airport.
Airport Director Glenn Januska told Cowboy State Daily that he spotted the rare aircraft around noon Tuesday. He didn’t know it was there until it was preparing for takeoff.
“I was walking past the observation deck in the terminal when I saw it,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of aircraft come and go in my 37-year career, but I never saw anything like that.”
Few people have seen anything like the EA-37B because it’s just entered service.
The first EA-37B Compass Call was delivered for pilot training in August 2024 and flew its first mission training sortie out of Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska, last month.
Only five of the aircraft are in service as of May 2025. The 10 aircraft ordered by the U.S. Air Force are designed to give a critical advantage in the ever-evolving world of modern warfare.
“This new airframe and its delivery mean that we have a combat-credible threat,” Col. Mark Howard, commander of the 55th Wing at Offutt Air Force Base, said in a statement last August when the first one was delivered. “The EA-37B, with its increased range, speed and agility, will allow Airmen onboard the aircraft to make real-time, adaptive, agile decisions for airpower.”
Electronic Warfare
The U.S. Air Force started planning for the EA-37B in 2014 as a replacement for the Lockheed EC-130H Compass Call.
A Compass Call aircraft is designed to be disruptive. In addition to being more technologically advanced, the EA-37B is 50% lighter and cheaper than its predecessor.
“The EA-37B is the right choice right now because as we continue to pivot toward ‘Great Power Competition,’ we have adversaries that are developing long-range kill chain ecosystems and anti-access area denial capabilities,” said 16th Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. Thomas Hensley in a statement. “The Compass Call will allow us to do things in the non-kinetic spectrum as well as the electromagnetic spectrum to give us the advantage and not them.”
Great Power Competition is the driving force behind efforts to adapt to “the rapidly evolving character of war” in the 21st century, the Air Force reports. To achieve this advancement, the Air Force identified four core areas that will receive the majority of their attention: develop people, generate readiness, project power and develop capabilities.
The EA-37B checks all of those boxes off, in various capacities. The avionics aboard the EA-37B, designed by defense contractors L3Harris and BAE Systems, are intended to disrupt enemy combatants’ command and control systems, including radars, navigation, and other electronic systems.
The Specs
According to the website Airforce Technology, the EA-37B is a wide-area airborne electromagnetic attack weapon system onboard a heavily modified Gulfstream G550 airframe. The aircraft has a length of 29.4 meters, a height of 7.9 meters and a wingspan of 28.5 meters.
The aircraft is powered by two Rolls-Royce BR710 C4-11 engines and weighs 48,300 pounds with a maximum take-off weight of 91,000 pounds. When airborne, it can reach a speed of mach 0.82.
The EA-37B can accommodate two pilots and a crew of up to seven. They’ll operate the latest electronic warfare systems integrated into an advanced flight deck, including jamming equipment, data link and multiple antennas.
Gen. Ken Wilsbach, commander of the Air Combat Command, called the delivery of the first EA-37B “an exciting day” for the U.S. Air Force.
“For a pilot, there is nothing better than picking up a brand new aircraft from the factory and delivering it to the warfighters,” he said in a statement. “For those of you who are going to get to fly it, it’s going to be amazing. We are on the cusp of delivering advanced capability, especially in electronic combat, and today is an exciting day for Air Combat Command.”
Just Dropping In
Offutt Air Force Base is 559 miles from Casper/Natrona County Airport, well within the EA-37B’s operating range of 5,070 miles.
Januska said it’s fairly common for military aircraft to fly into Casper, although their reasons for doing so are rarely disclosed.
“When (military) aircraft land, with some very specific exceptions, we aren’t told ahead of time,” he said. “Seeing military or unusual aircraft on the runway isn’t uncommon, and they don’t need to ask permission ahead of time.
“We may be able to find out information about the aircraft itself, but their purpose, or anything else like that, is not something we would typically ask.”
Januska didn’t know why an EA-37B visited Casper. He suspected it may have spent the night in one of the airport’s hangars, possibly being serviced by one of the fixed-base operators based at the airport.
“Those businesses are the ones that deal with military, private and business aircraft,” he said. “It’s different from airlines, which land and pull up to the terminal building.
“When military aircraft land, they don’t talk to anybody at the airport. They communicate with a fixed-base operator if they need a hangar for parking, getting fuel, or anything else.”
Several U.S. Air Force bases use the Casper/Natrona County Airport for their aircraft. Januska said they regularly see B-1 Lancers from Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota and C-130s from Wyoming’s F.E. Warren Air Force Base.
Seeing any military aircraft is exciting, but Januska thought the visit from the EA-37B was particularly notable.
“I didn't know the aircraft existed until we saw it yesterday,” he said.
Still In Training
The EA-37B is still in training with the 55th Wing at Offutt Air Force Base. The fleet of 10 EA-37Bs ordered by the U.S. Air Force isn’t expected to reach initial operating capability until 2026.
When it achieves initial operating capability, the EA-37B will assist future military operations by disrupting enemy communications and suppressing air defense networks while performing at higher altitudes, faster speeds and longer ranges than its predecessors.
In the increasingly technological world of modern warfare, this is a great aircraft to have on our side. Col. Scott Mills, commander of the 355th Wing stationed at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, said this aircraft is a smaller, lighter and more-than-worthy successor to the EC-130H.
“The EC-130 has been one of the flagships of Davis-Monthan since the early 1980s, and the arrival of the EA-37B along with the stand up of 11th Air Task Force shields a new era,” he said in a statement. “As we look to take on the growing threat, the bottom line for the Airmen of Davis-Monthan and the 55th Electronic Combat Group is we are ready today to face that threat.”
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
