Rep. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., has introduced a measure in an appropriations bill that would prevent the Air Force from retiring any EC-130H Compass Call aircraft next year.
The EC-130H's role is to jam enemy communications and radar to make it harder for them to shoot down U.S. aircraft. The Air Force's proposed budget for next fiscal year would retire seven of the service's 15 Compass Calls.
All of the seven EC-130H aircraft that the Air Force wants to retire are based at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, which falls within McSally's congressional district.
On Wednesday night, McSally added an amendment to the Fiscal 2016 Defense Appropriations Act, which that was later passed by the House, that would stop the Air Force from retiring, divesting, transferring or placing into storage any EC-130H aircraft next year, according to a Thursday news release from her office.
McSally, a former A-10 pilot, has already added similar language to the House version of the Fiscal 2016 National Defense Authorization Act.
"I recently visited our men and women from the 55th ECG [Electronic Combat Group] as they're deployed overseas and know first-hand how important their contributions are to our national security," McSally said in Thursday's news release. "The Compass Call is the only Air Force aircraft dedicated to electronic warfare. It's been heavily relied upon by combatant commanders during recent conflicts, and we cannot afford to retire this critical aircraft without a replacement capability."
The fiscal 2016 defense authorization and appropriations acts need to be passed by both the House and Senate. It remains to be seen whether the provisions to protect the EC-130H will be included in the final version of the bills, which will likely go to conference committee.
Lt. Gen. James M. "Mike" Holmes, deputy chief of staff for strategic plans and requirements, explained to reporters in February why the Air Force wants to retire seven EC-130H aircraft.
"We're looking, is there a way to remake that with a different air frame to perhaps get you higher, perhaps be cheaper to operate," Holmes said on Feb. 6. "But when we weighed all the things that the COCOMs [combatant commanders] expect from us, we chose that as an area to accept some short-term risk."
The Air Force has no time line for replacing the EC-130H.
