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EC-130 squadron surpasses 10,000 combat hours in support of Operation Enduring Freedom

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Rachel Martinez
  • 455th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan --  While conducting a typical mission one late September night - this one assisting International Security Assistance Force troops move a 41-vehicle convoy - the 41st Expeditionary Electronic Combat Squadron surpassed 10,000 combat hours in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

The 41st EECS, deployed from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., flies the EC-130H Compass Call to conduct its primary mission of disrupting enemy command and control communications and limiting adversary coordination essential for enemy force management.

"We are pretty much the Air Force's only electronic attack asset," said Maj. James Bands, operations officer. "Our primary mission is to support the ground troops at the (forward operating bases) with communications jamming."

The 41st EECS's 10,000 hours were amassed over four years, beginning with their first OEF deployment in March 2004.

"For this aircraft it is extremely difficult (to reach such a milestone)," said Bands. "There are only 14 of these aircraft in the Air Force. So it's taken four years of constant flying at about 2-3,000 hours on one aircraft a year, in order to accomplish this."

With only two operational EC-130H squadrons in the Air Force, many of the Airmen with the 41st EECS have deployed multiple times. Capt. Jared Howard, a navigator, is on his fourth OEF deployment and has more than 900 combat hours.

"It's all pretty much the same mission," said the Pontiac Ill., native. "The sorties seem to be getting longer and longer. When we first started off, we were just doing one thing, because everybody didn't know all our capabilities. So now we've told people about our abilities, and they are employing us much more."

While a typical fighter squadron will deploy with about a dozen aircraft, the 41st EECS deploys with only one or two EC-130s. Ensuring those few aircraft are mission ready everyday falls on the shoulders of the 41st Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Unit.
"The 10,000 flying hours are probably represented by 80,000 maintenance hours," said Master Sgt. Carla West, production superintendent.

According to Staff Sgt. Alex Rosales, an EC-130 crew chief, having one or two airplanes can be easier because there is less work to do, but it also doesn't allow for much maintenance down-time.

"If it breaks we have to fix it," he said. "We don't have another plane to fly. It's a little more stressful."

At least three or four times the amount of flying hours goes into maintaining the aircraft, said Rosales, a native of Phoenix, Ariz. Luckily, the more the aircraft flies, the better is seems to perform.

"They seem to fly better on the longer missions," agreed Senior Master Sgt. Mike Zielinski, maintenance superintendent. "If they fly eight to 12 hours, they usually come back in good shape. We haven't been able to figure out why, but it's something that we enjoy."

The 41st boasts a mission capable rate exceeding many other airframes in U.S. Air Forces Central Command. This accomplishment is credit to the teamwork, said Zielinski.

"Without everybody pitching in as a team, this mission would not happen - and we have an awesome team," he said. "I've been here since June and every week something surprises me. We continue to hit new plateaus, when I think we are hard broke and not going to be able to fly, we manage to come up with something and are able to fly."

Ensuring the aircraft can fly and perform its mission safely tops the list of priorities for both maintainers and aircrew.

"That plane needs to go up every night because there are guys on the ground depending on us to do our jobs and employ our weapon system," said West.

Being able to employ the EC-130 weapon system is vital.

"If we're not here to employ, the ground troops really feel the effects of us not being here," said Bands.

"Trying to make sure our guys on the ground are safe - that's the biggest (reward)," added Howard.