To be replaced by the new British built EC-37B, EC-130H Compass Call aircraft are slowly being retired.

Retirements began in 2018 and are ongoing, as the new EC-37B is only now coming off the production line.  Unfortunately, just like the EC-37B the British empire’s BAE System is also involved with the EC-130H (another Yankee taxpayer feather in the cap of the Red Coats).  A total of 14 modified EC-130H served in the USAF.

First flight 1981, entered service 1982, costs $165-million each. By October 2021, the EC-130H Compass Call had been flying for 40 years.   However, keep in mind that the first Compass Calls were modified C-130Hs that had already been flying for at least a decade (known as Baseline 1 aircraft)!

On 31AUG2021, yet another Compass Call was retired to the ‘Boneyard’ on Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (AFB), in Arizona.  U.S. Air Force (USAF) video by Senior Airman Kaitlyn Ergish:

12JUN2019, the 43rd Electronic Combat Squadron (Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona) deployed to NATO Poland, for the first time in the Squadron’s history.  Compass Call worked alongside fighter aircraft (in U.S. English the word aircraft is both singular and plural, do not add an ‘s’ at the end of the word aircraft) of the U.S. and Polish air forces. USAF video by Airman First Class Chanceler Nardone:

By December 2018, the EC-130H has been on-station over Afghanistan for 15 years, video interview by Senior Airman Jean-Paul Arnaud-Marquez:

USAF video by Senior Airman Kayla Palmer, an EC-130H retirement ceremony on Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, 02AUG2018:

In 2018, the oldest EC-130H was retired, it was tail number was 65-0989.  According to the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing, it was originally a C-130H built in 1965.  65-0989 was one of the first C-130Hs to be modified for the Compass Call mission.  In 2018, the older Compass Calls were being replaced with newer/upgraded C-130s (known as Baseline 2, 5th generation electronic attack aircraft).

November 2017, night vision video by Technical Sergeant Justin Jacobs, of 41st Expeditionary Electronic Combat Squadron’s EC-130H operations on Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan:

August 2017, Afghanistan, Airman explains his job maintaining Compass Call’s electronic warfare equipment, video by Senior Airman Joshua Crawley:

December 2016 video report, by Technical Sergeant Lance Daigle, explaining Compass Call’s mission over Iraq and Syria:

June 2012, Ohio Air National Guard refuel Compass Call over Utah, video by Senior Airman Robert Harnden:

Cold War: Approximately 1947 (due to U.S. President Harry Truman’s Truman Doctrine) to 1991 (Operation Desert Storm, collapse of Soviet Union).

Agent Orange/Chem-Trails: C-130H DUSTS IDAHO WITH CHEMICALS, IN THE NAME OF FIGHTING WILDFIRES!

C-130J: ONCE A RED COAT, NOW A BLUE ANGEL

Cold War to Ukraine Crisis: ANTONOV 2 BIPLANE, THE MOST PRACTICAL AIRCRAFT EVER?