The airmen with the 41st Expeditionary Electronic Control Squadron at Bagram AB, Afghanistan, recently flew their 700th EC-130H Compass Call sortie for Operation Enduring Freedom. The milestone came on April 7, exactly two years since their deployment to Southwest Asia. The 41st EECS has supported six consecutive air expeditionary force rotations, with the electronic warfare aircraft flying every day. The unit has missed only two missions in the last six months, Col. Allen D. Hansen, 41st EECS commander told the Bagram Bullet. Hansen noted that more than a dozen of the aircraft would undergo a two-year upgrade process to increase the aircraft’s jamming capabilities “well beyond what they are today.”
Raytheon, a division of defense giant RTX, recently announced a multiyear deal with the Pentagon to increase annual production of the Air Force’s primary dogfighting missile by more than 50 percent from two years ago.
