Till Their Ears Bleed: Compass Call's Contributions to the War on Terror

摘要

An EC-130H Compass Call aircraft returning from Operation Enduring Freedom visited Andrews AFB, MD, in late May. The crew ― from the 41st Electronic Combat Squadron (ECS), 355th Wing, Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ ― gave JED a tour of the aircraft and briefings on the 100+ missions flown by two Compass Calls in Afghanistan. "There was only rudimentary infrastructure in the country, forcing communications to be via radio and cell phone, so the robust jammer was able to severely disrupt the communications of al Qaeda and the Taliban," Capt Chris Kirshman, EW Operations Action Officer at HQ Air Combat Command, said. "This forced them to rely on passed notes, frequently making coordinated operations impossible and delaying their ability to respond to attacks by US forces." Compass Call operated in concert with the AN/USQ-113(V)s of the EA-6B Prowlers, since there was no air-defense radar net to speak of for the Prowlers to take down. The two made a good team, with Compass Call linguists providing valuable inputs on selecting jamming targets to the Prowler crews. During most missions, the EC-130Hs focused on discrete, individual targets, while the AN/USQ-113(V)s worked over broader parts of a net, the operators explained.