Transitioning the Compass Call Force to Next-Generation Warfighters

 In this episode of From the Crow’s Nest, host Ken Miller and AOC senior analyst Matt Thompson host a panel of experts with the U.S. Air Force’s 55th Electronic Combat Group called Compass Call. Lt. Col. Jesse Palchick and 1st Lt. Colin Schulz discuss the plans to transition their fleet from the aging EC-130H to the EA-37B aircraft and describe the capability differences between the new and outgoing models. They note that the upcoming EA-37B model will be able to fly higher and faster than the current EC-130H.

 

Ken asks Jesse and Matt how the Air Force has improved its understanding of the importance of electronic warfare and how upgrading to this new aircraft will affect the personnel working aboard this fleet.

To learn more about today’s topics or to stay updated on EMSO and EW developments, visit our homepage.

Creators & Guests

Host

Ken Miller

AOC Director of Advocacy & Outreach, Host of @AOCrows From the Crows' Nest Podcast

1S

Guest

1st Lt. Colin Schulz

IB

Editor

Ish Balderas-Wong

LK

Producer

Laura Krebs

LP

Guest

Lt. Col. Jesse Palchick

MT

Guest

Matt Thompson

RC

Editor

Reese Clutter

TH

Writer

Trevor Hook

What is From the Crows' Nest?

Featuring interviews, analysis, and discussions covering leading issues of the day related to electromagnetic spectrum operations (EMSO). Topics include current events and news worldwide, US Congress and the annual defense budget, and military news from the US and allied countries. We also bring you closer to Association of Old Crow events and provide a forum to dive deeper into policy issues impacting our community.

(upbeat ambient music)

- Welcome to From the Crows Nest,

a podcast on electromagnetic
spectrum operations or MSO.

I'm your host, Ken Miller,
director of Advocacy

and Outreach for the
Association of Old Crows.

Thanks for listening.

In this episode of From the Crows Nest,

I share with you a conversation I had

with representatives from the
55th Electronic Combat Group,

the Compass Call
Community, during my visit

to Davis Mountain Air
Force Base back in January.

Now, as many of you know, the Compass Call

is recognized by the
Venerable EC-130H aircraft,

but the Compass Call is
more than just an airframe,

it's also a mission.

And the US Air Force is in the process

of replacing the agency 130 airframe

with a more operationally
relevant EA-37B airframe,

EA standing for electronic attack,

which is a variant of the Gulf Stream.

This process has been

less than smooth at times
than it needs to be.

And you know, from an AOC perspective,

we support the delivery of
additional E-83B aircraft

and of course, on a faster timeframe,

time scheduled than they currently are.

But there is progress
being made on that front,

and we applaud the Air Force
for the work being done.

But really the takeaway from my visit

with the Compass Call
community was, of course,

just how critical the Compass Call mission

is today to successful MSO operations

and just how amazing this community is at

conducting their mission and
the pride they take in it.

It was really refreshing to be out there,

spend the day with them,

I greatly appreciate them
taking time from their

busy schedule, their
high demand, a mission,

and they're always on the go.

So it was great to spend
some time with them,

sit down with them

and learn a little bit more
about where they're at today.

Now before I get to that interview,

for those who listened to
last week's bonus episode

on what is going on in
Congress these days,

you'll know that the president's budget

was delivered to Capitol Hill this week.

That's kind of the big milestone

that everyone in DC is talking about,

and probably only people
in DC are talking about it.

But the main talking
point, of course is that,

you know, the president's
budget every year,

year in and year out is dead on arrival

until Congress gets its hands on it.

But the fact is,

the truth is that much of
this budget remains intact

through the appropriations process.

So it really does give you an idea

of where the budget is going
throughout the fiscal year.

This is especially true
with the defense budget.

Congress will play around with

some of the major initiatives,

but the bulk of the defense
budget is gonna remain intact.

So the President's budget
calls for 849.8 billion

for the Department of Defense in FY 2025,

and that's about a 4.1%
increase over fiscal year 2024.

Now there'll be folks in
Congress on both sides saying

either that needs to be a
higher number or a lower number,

and those views do not break
down along party lines.

Those views are represented
on both sides of the aisle.

So there'll be some talk about

what that final number will be,

but that's the starting
point is 849.8 billion.

There are also several interesting

MSO priorities highlighted in the budget,

of course, in addition
to the EA-18G Growler

capability modifications,

their support for the
next generation jammer

to improve electronic attack capabilities.

There's also funding for the
F-15 Eagle passive active

warning and survivability system,

and the integrated defensive
electronic countermeasure

system for all F-18 aircraft.

There is also the direction
that the Department

of the Air Force must achieve
electromagnetic dominance

to maintain information advantage

so the establishment of
Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations

Center of Excellence.

And then there are also
also plans to accelerate

EC-37B baseline by transferring resources

from the retiring EC-130H
Compass Call aircraft

to this new EA-37B variant.

There are other initiatives

that support the CHIPS
Act on microelectronics,

as well as other critical technologies

and hypersonic weapons,
electronic warfare,

nuclear modernization, so forth.

And then finally, of
course, you know, there is,

from the C power perspective,
there is money in there

for the Surface Electronic
Improvement Program,

but block three,

and some additional
money for C4ISR systems.

So all that to say is
there's a lot in the budget,

we're still going through
getting the numbers

for some of these initiatives.

We'll bring all that
to you as we get them,

either on the show, on
from the Crow's Nest,

or you can look at,

look for articles in the
AOCs Weekly ECRO newsletter

that comes out on Wednesdays.

But again, we'll try to
provide this information

for you as much as we
can, as quickly as we can.

All right, so that was a lot.

I greatly appreciate your patience

as we go through some of that,

but I felt it was really important

to kind give you an update
that's where we're standing at

on the annual defense budget process.

So now I would like to
take you to my interview

with the 55th Electronic Combat Group

to discuss today's Compass Call mission.

Let's listen in.

I am pleased to be here

with a team from the 55th
Electronic Combat Group,

the Compass Call out here at
Davis Monte Air Force Base,

and I'm also here with
my subject matter expert

and senior analyst Matt Thompson.

(loud droning)

And I'll go around and we'll
introduce everybody here.

But I'm here with Lieutenant
Colonel Jesse Palchick,

as well as first Lieutenant Colin Schultz.

I first wanna thank you
all for opening the doors

and welcoming us here
for our visit this week.

It's been a great morning with you

getting up to speed on the Compass Call

and of course, the arrival,
in the near here of the EA-37B

and the impact that that's
gonna have on the mission

and the improved capability
and all that's going on there.

So really appreciate you

taking time outta your
busy schedule and thank you

for joining me here on
From the Crows Nest.

So just to begin, for our listeners,

we'll go around and if you
could just say your name

and kind of a little bit of what,

how you fit into the leadership
structure here at the 55th.

- Oh yeah, easy day.

So Lieutenant Colonel Jesse Palchick.

I'm the 55th Electronic
Group Deputy Commander,

so working under Colonel Olson,
who's the 06 for the group.

and a relative new group
member to the family,

but basically bring a lot of expertise

from my SOCOM background

and then some electronic
attack background from that,

and basic help with the big part

of the leadership team of the group.

- Yep, so I'm Lieutenant Schultz,

I'm just a line flyer here.

I've been here for a couple years.

I just went through upgrade to
be a mission crew commander,

so the lead EWO on any particular flight.

So yeah, I'm just flying
lines once, twice a week

and just trying to get
better at my job every day.

- To begin, obviously the
rest of our conversation

is gonna be about transitioning
the Compass Call aircraft

EC-130 to the EA-37B.

And just to get us started,

could you tell us a little bit about

the current aircraft you
have, the EC-130 Compass Call

and what kind of capabilities
and limitations it brings

(loud droning)
to your current fight?

- Do some high level stuff.

I'll turn up to Lieutenant Schultz,

can I be more details so
you can fill in the gaps?

Great.

So big picture, right,

so EC-130H very legacy old airplane,

a lot of the things airplanes
were built during Vietnam,

their in heritage gear
became active in 1982.

From capability perspective
started off with basics,

just comms jamming

where it first started with,

over the years incorporated more.

So going against radars,
more advanced data links,

things in the future, then
kind of going into meshing in

with the other electronic attack assets,

so the growler from the Navy
and previously the Prowler

when the Marines, the Navy flew that.

And then going into the future

building into integrating with fifth gen

and eventually sixth
when NGAG comes online.

A big part of the pie

when going against the
electromagnetic spectrum

and then superiority
across the entire spectrum.

And so, like I said, we're a
big part of the joint fight

and sort of the MSO GSO concept.

- And you said, you know,

the airframe has been around a long time,

I think well over 40 years,

but it's obviously the mission

has been continually upgraded.

How challenging has it been to figure out

how to meet those mission requirements

and you still have the old airframe,

it doesn't fly high, it
doesn't, you know, whatever.

So how challenging is it to kind of

make sure that you can
continue to do that mission?

- Yeah, so from our partners
and let's say Paycom,

and across the world, so
the age of the airplane,

so speed, altitude makes
its hard to integrate

in the current fight and that
kind of leads into the EA-37

when it comes online, higher, faster.

And then in terms of
the actual mission set,

(indistinct) how I
transition to you for this,

is the better integrations
of our new capabilities.

So everything's from kind
of hodgepodge together

and then the EA-37 will allow us to

bring it all together
into the weapons system

versus sort of add-ons and tech-ons.

- For sure, yeah, you know,

it's a little before my time
talking about Afghanistan

and stuff like that, but
I think it was really

kinda the perfect platform for that

and it could be there for a long time,

had really good longevity
in the air, air-refuelable.

And yeah, just talking about being able to

kind of strap on different capabilities.

So we had our classic counter con,

counter radar, stuff like that,

some that was used more than others

and the kind of coin stuff that we,

that ECG has been doing for
the last 20 years or so.

But getting to kind of build on

with more of those advanced profiles

and pretty much just be a flying,
a giant flying transmitter

that you can kind of
stick a lot of stuff onto

and just see how it works,

I think really put us in
a good spot for the EA-37

to say like, "Hey, it's cool
that we have all these things,

it would be even better if
it worked more seamless.

- Key part of our visit here
is to kind of come up to speed

with the compass call
mission and in anticipation

of the EA-37B arriving
here sometime spring.

And what's great about any new aircraft

is the minute that it arrives,

everything just flips right over

and you're fully, right, you've got that.

So, no, but could you give
us a little bit of insight

into the plan for the,

because this transition
plan is gonna be multi-year,

a lot of different moving
parts, different pieces

that you constantly have
to fit and refit into it.

So could you give us a
little bit of information

on the plan to transition from
the EC-130 to the EA- 37B?

- Yeah, so I'll kinda give you
an overlighting a timeline.

So the sun setting of the EA,

sorry, the EC-130 has already started

roughly in the past two years.

We're decorating over time

where the last two aircraft
will sunset the end of FY '26.

And at that point I think we're having,

I think it's six aircraft at that point

when we kind of swap over
with the full buy plan

to be up to 10 aircraft,

eventually fully completing an FY-31.

So, like I said,

full transition over
EC-130 sunsets in FY '26.

End of FY '26, at the
end of that being FY '27,

the new A-37B comes online
as the Compass Call.

- And the first airframe is
delivered here in spring.

Do you have a time for that?

- End of March.

End of March,

Will be first aircraft
here at DM to start again,

the pilots spun up on a fly a modern G515.

- But that is not, for our listeners,

that is not the initial
operating capability of it.

So how long will it take
to get to that point

as well as then

when does the second
one come or a third one?

- So the bigger thing

in terms of when is in more
of an operational aircraft,

so some of the bigger things

for the timeline really would be

the end of FY '25 is when we'll have

our a full fielding recommendation
for when the aircraft

will be technically IOC at that point.

- What are some of the key differences?

Obviously just the eye test,

you can tell like it's
dramatically different.

So what are some of the key differences

that you could share
with us in terms of what

the new EA-37B can do?

- Yeah.

So let's say, I guess
we'll share this one too,

but from the higher level,

higher, faster, more capable, right?

So old T-130,

can't keep up with the
current strike packages.

It's a big planning consideration

wherever we go in the world,
higher, better line of sight,

can throw those photons
further, affect more systems,

and then more capable.

And then I'll hand it to
you Lieutenant Schultz about

better integrated and
better future capability.

So more men missing out.

- Absolutely.

So it definitely, we have
very similar capabilities

as far as what our
jamming capabilities are,

but better in a lot of ways,

like I said, it's kind of more seamless,

especially with the kind of
clipping stuff that we can do.

But that being said,

if you're just looking
at not doing coin anymore

and looking at the near peer,

like you gotta be farther away,

you gotta be able to get
away faster essentially

if we had to.

Looking at that, that's
kinda the biggest factor.

And just having more power
essentially in what we're doing,

having kind of our
miniaturized components,

making us kind of what
lighter and that kinda stuff,

and being more seamless,
having newer radios.

I think the maintenance
reliability rate, just being,

having that 90% ish availability rate

is gonna be huge for us.

Both getting reps at home as well as,

you know, for any kind of
conflict in the future.

- What is the availability
rate now of the current?

I know that's kind of hard
maybe with the sundown,

but.
- Yeah,

it's a challenge.

- Okay.
- I'll put it that way,

right.
- Okay.

- So old airplanes,

fewer and fewer and globally
speaking the Air Force

has gone away from the H model C-130,

so it's hard to maintain airplane

that the larger DOD doesn't
really support anymore.

So it's a continual challenge as,

and actually I think two people here

that tried to fly yesterday

found out I tried to fly yesterday too.

All of it didn't happen, it didn't happen.

So it can be very challenging.

- So I want to go back
to lieutenant Schultz,

you know, you mentioned
a few of the things

that the new EA-37B is going to have.

What are some of,

a couple of the real key
capability improvements

that you're most excited
about seeing in the field

or another way, obviously with, you know,

security challenges around
the world as they are today?

I mean, the minute the EA-37B is fielded,

we know it's gonna be in high demand

and it's gonna be more equipped to adapt

to a real dynamic threat environment.

So with this aircraft, you
know, can you talk about some,

how it'll be a little bit easier maybe

to keep pace with the changing threat

than the current EC130, you know,

open systems architecture,
plug and play capability,

how does that play into the
new variant coming on board?

- Absolutely.

So kinda like we were talking
about before with the EC,

big flying transmitter, a lot of cables,

you can kind of plug anything in there

as long as it's more or
less designed for it,

and then we kind of find out
if it works based on testing,

stuff like that.

So having our future aircraft
have the kind of open the,

can I say Saber?

- Yeah, you say Sabre and Sword.

- So we're gonna have
the Sabre architecture

that's gonna eventually
become sword, which is,

we can think of it as like an app store,

kind of like you said open architecture.

We can have a lot of different
players design stuff for us

that if all of a sudden

country X comes out with this new thing,

whereas it might have taken,

I don't know what the timeline would be,

a lot longer than it would
now, they can say like,

"Hey, we can create this waveform,

we can create this package that we know

is going to work with your architecture

and then we can see if
that waveform works"

as opposed to seeing
if the technology works

and then see if the waveform works.

- Yeah, and I can bring it
up to a bigger thing too.

So, you know, classically speaking, right,

so you and your compadre behind you

have have done this game a lot

in terms of updating jam wing waveforms

and whatever the enemy is creating,

so it's a continual cat and mouse game

of who can do something better first.

And then really speed
is what helps, right?

Whoever is able to change
with they're doing faster

and you hit the nail on the head, right,

so open architecture, rapid reprogramming,

things aren't tied down to a very

unique way of doing business,

allows us to adapt to whatever
the adversary is doing

and then we can create
counters they're doing

and just try to get ahead of 'em.

So like I said, Boid said it very well.

So he moves faster, does better.

- Well, and over the last several months,

we've had the opportunity
to go down to Warner Robins

to engage the 350 spectrum warfare airway.

We've been really impressed

with the steps the Air Force has taken

to really improve its
capabilities in the EW space.

That's got to give you
at least a good feeling

as the EA-37B arrives.

The Air Force understands a lot
better today the need for EW

than maybe some of the years past.

And how has 350th and
some of the other changes

that have happened at the Air
Force helped this transition?

- I'm gonna add some color on this,

your statement about 350
is, so you're a 100% right,

the Air Force is reinventing itself

a little bit (indistinct) world, right?

I think we're still
recovering from fighting coin

for a long time, but we
still have a long ways to go.

So we're creating a lot of organizations

that like 350 Spectrum warfare wing.

Great.

But the amount of EW professionals
out there is smaller.

So my original airframe, AC-130 gunship,

EWO doesn't exist on that anymore.

B-52 is getting rid of their EWO-2.

So we are creating organizations
that will foster advances

(upbeat abient music)
and keeping pace

with our pacing threats, but
we're still a long ways to go

in building the professionals to do that.

And to be honest with you, Compass Calls

is probably one of the
founding areas for that.

Since BT-2 doesn't have
an EWO, (indistinct),

B1s are going away.

So your professional EWOisms
really are coming from the RJ

and from the Compass Call.

(upbeat ambient music)

- That gets me into the next question,

I wanna talk a little bit
about the training challenges.

Could you talk a little
bit about how the roles

of the air crew changes

and how you're addressing some
of the training challenges

that arise from taking,

the personnel from one
aircraft into another

from in terms of roles
and responsibilities

and then how are you tackling
the training challenge?

- Yeah, so that's a kind
of an evolving thing

between the new EC-1, EA-37,

- It's good to know that we both do that.

- Yeah.
(everyone laughing)

What's in the letter, right?

A lot of work actually.

- A lot of work under the letter.

That's something, a continuing
discussion we have about that

when baseline three comes
online and then baseline four

'cause like you said, perfectly,

smaller crew relying on technology.

A lot of cool things we're
doing to help with that.

But actually I think you
guys over at the bat's

probably a little more than I do

of how we're mitigating the smaller crew,

which is much smaller and current.

- Sure, yeah.

So one of the big things in the EC-130,

we have a very analog system
for talking to each other,

we have set channels

where you can only talk
to specific crew members,

which kind of made the navigator,

which is gonna go away into a crucial

piece between the flight deck

and the mission crew in the back.

So my understanding is we're gonna have

all digital intercom for everyone

so you can set up
specific channels between

just the mission crew commander
and the pilot for example,

if you want need to have that
back and forth as opposed to

needing to go through different people.

So I think we're using
technology in that way to

kind of increase our resource management

and make sure that that's
working more efficiently.

- And next, actually I can touch on too,

so my extra perspective,

so remember I was like came from Gunships,

and in that,

the front end, back end
all fighting together.

And so, unless opposed to
currently with the EC-130,

there's a bit of a wall

between the front end and the back end.

And then to make better
use of the entire crew

is integrating everyone together.

So they're all fighting the same fight

on the same basically
fires net if you will.

So like I said, I did a
lot of real world fires,

but in this, the Compass Call,
whether the E-C130, EEA 37

is electronic fires

and the solution to really
having a smaller crew

is better integration

with the smaller amount
of people you have.

And like I said, the new
aircraft will help that a lot.

I've seen the new ISCS
system, it's pretty neat.

- Really?

Okay.

- Yeah, I think it's story out some bugs,

but you can call individual
stations, create subnets.

It's pretty cool.

- I wanna bring in our senior analyst,

Matt Thompson for a question on this.

- Yeah, so I just wanna
go back to something

that you kind of were
talking about earlier

and just kind of, I asked
the question a different way.

So I think sometimes it's
easy to overlook just

the benefits of getting in the new car.

So when Ken Earl asked earlier like,

what are you most excited about?

Like I think we're talking
about at that level,

new platform, shiny new toy,

getting outta something that's

probably been flying for a 1000 hours

before you were born.

Like, what kinda excitement

do you have on those kind of things.

- Yeah, so that's definitely exciting

and I think it kind of goes back to

how the Air Force is posturing itself too.

It definitely makes me, as someone,

new to the Air Force, new to EW, feel like

we're valued, we're important,

it's something that they care about.

So having that just belief in us

that we can get this new platform.

I mean, yeah, it is just cool
to have, it's gonna be cool

to have the newest
platform in the Air Force.

Like that's not anything I ever thought,

and it's honestly so contrary
to how this community

has been for the last 40 years

where we're one of the oldest
platforms at this point.

So I think we're used to
just like doing our best,

getting along with whatever we have to,

which I think is gonna
be a really good mindset

moving forward that we
can have that perseverance

whilst having an even
better maintenance rate.

- So when I was first
introduced to the Compass Call,

it was probably, well,
I wanna say late 90s,

2000 timeframe when I was on Capitol Hill,

and we used to put together these

Compass Call awareness days,
which were fantastic events.

You know, we had the
people come out to brief.

Eventually then we also,

we were able to actually get
an airframe from Davis Mountain

to come out to Andrews, park at Andrews,

have tours and talk with the crew.

And I always found that that was

some of the most interesting times,

and since then have always
enjoyed engaging the crew

and engaging the community.

Really appreciate the job that you do.

Could you tell us a little bit about

just serving in the community
from a human perspective,

just from a service member perspective,

what it's like to be a part
of the Compass Call community,

where you're at today and kind
of where that's gonna go here

as the new 37 model comes in?

- Sure, yeah.

So we're gonna have a smaller crew.

We'll be missing some of our folks

that have been around
here for a long time,

navs, flight engineers,
that kind of stuff.

But to me at least it
feels kinda like a family

just 'cause this is the only place we are,

people stick around here for a long time.

- And because it's such a specialty,

there's quite a few I would imagine

that start and end a career
right here at Davis Monthan.

- Absolutely, yeah,

it's not uncommon for
people to start here,

go do a staff tour and come back here.

So yeah, there's definitely
a lot of experience

and beings that EW is so kind of niche.

Obviously there's other
platforms that have like EW pods

and stuff like that that'll do,

but I understand it's more of like a

set it and forget it type of thing.

So the fact that we have to
be so active in the process

kind of makes us feel like
more connected I guess

in that we're like, listen,

we're the kind of the
only people that do this,

at least on the Air Force side,

obviously there's the growlers.

So I think that makes us feel
like we need to do a good job

and that we're kind of in our
own little niche over here.

- You come out here,
you look at the numbers

and you're like, wow,
there's 800 plus people

as part of the detachment
or the group here.

Seems like a lot,

but obviously your operational
tempo is tremendous,

you always have new tasks
that you have to respond to,

not enough people, quite frankly.

So could you tell us a
little bit about how,

maybe give us some insight
just generally speaking

in terms of how often
are, do you deploy or,

and what is a typical,
like take us inside the,

again, from a service member perspective,

not from a technical perspective,

but just take us into the
back of the EC-130 here

to talk about like who's back there

and who is a part of your team?

- Sure, yeah.

So typical deployment for us

is just total case by case basis.

Usually it comes totally outta the blue,

so and so wants you to do this
thing at this place, right.

So usually it's a kinda a process

of like senior leadership deciding like,

"Hey, can we do this?"

As far as like the human
service member perspective,

we have our times that we know
we're up for deployment, so,

and we can see who's gonna be on our crew.

So it's definitely a
small enough community

that you know everybody for
sure, especially all the flyers,

outta that 800, I don't even wanna guess,

but like it's a smaller
percentage of that for sure.

So having that opportunity

to fly with pretty much everybody,

probably at least once a week,
you fly with a few people.

So we don't do hard
crews here when we train,

but when we deploy we do.

So.

- There's two operational squadrons here,

the 41st and the 43rd.

When I was out here the last time,

spent the day with the 43rd,

spending most of the
time here over the 41st.

You Lieutenant lieutenant
are from the 43rd

as I've just realized.

So welcome here to the other side here.

But could you tell us a little
bit about the differences

between the operational squadrons,

kind of how the duties break down

or just kind of how the
squadrons are organized here?

- Yeah, absolutely.

So flight deck as in pilots,
flight engineers, navs, EWOs

are all essentially agnostic.

You can be, we don't
break it apart that way.

So we still have set all those
crew positions per squadron.

But the big breakdown is
definitely the AOR focus.

So the 41st has more of like
the CENTCOM type languages,

as well as Russian, and then the 43rd

focuses on Indo Paycom and Southcom.

So while the EWOs are
agnostic, preach Squadron,

we definitely have more
of a focus on like,

the 43rd members will know
more about Endo Paycom systems

and then the 41st will
know more about Centcom.

So when we deploy, it doesn't
necessarily work that way

other than the linguists,

but that's kind of how it's
supposed to be broken down

if for some reason we had to
support two different AORs.

- Great.

And just to wrap up, a
couple last questions here

from just an education
and awareness standpoint

because from the Gross
Nest year we get about

five, 6,000 downloads a month,

a lot of new listeners each month.

What do you want our audience
to know about who you are,

what you do, and kind of
where you're going with

obviously with the new
variant coming on board?

- So I guess the biggest
thing right is that we are

the Air force's only manned
electronic attack asset,

and we fill a crucial role in MSOG/EMSO

supporting blue forces and
denying red advantages, right.

So like in open media, right,

B-31 gets a lot of press,

F-35 gets a lot of press,

but they don't operate on their own.

And the Compass Call serves a key role

in that larger fight across the DOD,

not just in the Air Force.

And so like even the Growler,
they are good at things,

we're good at other things,

and we're a big part of the joint fight

and capabilities we develop

are ones that are
helping out everyone else

across the spectrum of warfare.

Like I said, we spend
a lot of time in coin,

got really good at that,

and right now we're
regenerate our capabilities

for that massive force on force,

the army would say full boogie warfare

is what they would call.

But that's what we're
kind of driving for now,

to get us all modernized
up and one need to

fight against people
that might outnumber us.

And so we can take our
technological advantages ahead

and win the fight.

- And from the Crows
Nest podcast obviously

is a product of the
association of All Crows.

So what can the association
do to help you in this effort?

- So advocacy is huge, right?

I've always said that if
you wanna win any argument,

you have a lot of friends

and if you socialize enough things widely,

then things change, right?

One loud voice is okay,

but if all everyone's
yelling at the same message,

it's even better.

So I think we've hint on it before,

training is a important thing,

and the Air Force, I would
say maybe the entire military

forgets about this sometimes

is building that infrastructure
for good training.

I have an old saying that
sometimes you've got toys

and sometimes you've got tools,

toys are cool, you need capabilities,

a few people know how to use.

Tools are things that are well trained to

when you have the
infrastructure to train to it.

And that's where we really need
help, to be honest with you,

and the helping with the advocacy piece.

From the front back, pilots,

sometimes they're forgotten
about this community,

nothing against you guys,

but we're trying many efforts through ACC

and then half to get us say
WST is a weapon system trainer

for the front end for the new aircraft

so that our pilots are proficient

and we can take the aircraft anywhere.

And for the back end,
we have a semial line,

but it needs to keep
pace with the aircraft.

We kind of talked earlier
about keeping pace

with our enemies, but to
make sure that we as humans

can do that, our training
tools have to keep pace.

That's something we help
with too is showing that

just one and done isn't gonna do it,

that we gotta be able to keep pace in palm

for it appropriately so the
money flows and resources come.

So that's some of the biggest thing is

helping us build our infrastructure

for training for the entire aircraft,

so we support the DOB.

- Yeah, I would just say for that,

just kinda like you were
saying, the idea that like,

hey, it's funded cool, we're good for EW,

like move on, go find the next thing.

But you know, as we've mentioned,

it's a cat and mouse thing,
it's constantly evolving.

So just realizing that it's not gonna be

a one and done thing and then, you know,

just education as far as what we do

because even a lot of
people in the Air Force

don't really understand what we do

or think we can do everything at once

or think that we can be
in every AOR at every time

and maybe someday,

with enough aircraft
we'd be able to do that.

But as currently planned and funded,

we're still gonna be a
very limited resource

as far as where we can be at one time.

- And that's a valid point,

so kind of referring back to other

similar open source discussions, right?

So you see B-21 all over the headlines

and the headline is we need more B-21.

I would say the same for the EA-37 Bravo.

Need more of that to cover

both sides of the world if need be,

or even just for one fight having more

so we can sustain the joint force.

- Lieutenant Colonel Palchick
and Lieutenant Schultz,

I really greatly
appreciate you taking time

outta your busy schedule joining me.

I'll let you get back to your day

and I really appreciate
you joining me here,

(upbeat ambient music)
I'm From the Crows Nest.

Thank you very much.

That will conclude this
episode of From the Crows Nest.

I want to thank my guest,

Dr. David (indistinct) for joining me.

Again, if you're an AOC
member, look for an email

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That's it for today, thanks for listening.