Electronic war fighters celebrate milestone

[unhappycamper]

Members of the 386th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron guide an EC-130 Compass Call assigned to the 43rd Expeditionary Electronic Combat Squadron into its designated parking spot on Aug 15 at an air base in Southwest Asia. The 43rd EECS just completed their 2,500th Operation Iraqi Freedom combat sortie.


Electronic war fighters celebrate milestone
Staff reports
Posted : Tuesday Feb 17, 2009 16:43:04 EST

Airmen of the 43rd Expeditionary Electronic Combat Squadron have flown 20,000 combat hours over Iraq without ever dropping a bomb or firing a gun.

Instead, they shoot electronics to jam communications or quietly listen.

The squadron reached the 20,000-hour milestone Tuesday with just three to five aircraft on hand at any time since its deployment in 2004, said Lt. Col. David Delmonaco, commander of the 43rd.

While the success of other aircraft can be measured by number of bombs dropped, Delmonaco said, the success of the squadron’s EC-130 Compass Calls can be measured only by the number of bad things that didn’t happen.

“We send non-lethal, non-kinetic fires,” said Delmonaco. “So we’re not dropping bombs, we’re not shooting bullets, but we are using this weapon system to prevent things from happening or to make things happen the enemy isn’t anticipating.”


Rest of article at: http://airforcetimes.com/news/2009/02/airforce_20k_combat_hours_021709w/%2e